GitHub just changed its rules — your code now trains AI

If you use GitHub Copilot on a Free, Pro, or Pro+ plan, your code is about to become AI training data. On March 25, GitHub quietly updated its Copilot interaction data usage policy: starting April 24, 2026, everything you type into Copilot — your code, your comments, your file structure, the suggestions you accept — will be used to train AI models. Unless you opt out.

The developer community isn't happy. The announcement received 50 downvotes to just 3 upvotes on GitHub's own community forum.

Exactly what GitHub will collect

This isn't vague "telemetry" (background usage tracking). GitHub is explicit about what gets used for training:

GitHub says this data may be shared with "GitHub affiliates, which are companies in our corporate family including Microsoft" — but not with third-party AI providers.

Who this affects — and who it doesn't

This means developers working on personal projects, open-source contributions, freelance work, or side projects are all opted in by default. The only developers protected are those whose employers pay for Business or Enterprise plans.

Why developers are calling it a "bait and switch"

The community discussion is blunt. Top concerns:

Opt-out, not opt-in. Many developers originally chose Copilot specifically because it promised not to train on user data. One commenter wrote: "The way to 'proudly ask for consent' would be to require the user to opt-in instead."

No compensation. Users question why they get nothing in return — no discount, no free credits — for contributing their code to improve a product GitHub sells.

Buried settings. Critics note the notification didn't include a direct link to the opt-out page, making it harder to find for less technical users.

Enterprise loophole questions. Developers worry about what happens when they use a personal Copilot license on a work repository — does the company's code get swept up?

How to opt out right now

You have until April 24 to change your settings before the new policy takes effect. Here's how:

1. Go to github.com/settings/copilot/features
2. Look for "Allow GitHub to use my code snippets
   for product improvements"
3. Uncheck the box
4. Save changes

If you previously opted out of GitHub's data collection for product improvements, your preference has been preserved — you don't need to do anything. But if you're not sure, check now.

Good news: opting out does not affect your access to Copilot features. You still get the same AI coding assistance — you just don't contribute your data to training.

The bigger pattern

GitHub isn't the first to make this move. The trend of AI companies defaulting users into training data collection — then requiring them to actively find and flip a switch to stop it — has become an industry pattern. The difference here is scale: GitHub Copilot is used by millions of developers worldwide, and the data being collected is production code — not social media posts or casual conversations.

GitHub's justification is that using Microsoft employee interaction data led to "meaningful improvements" in Copilot's performance across multiple programming languages. The company is betting that broader data will make Copilot better for everyone — even if not everyone agreed to participate.

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