Microsoft caught sneaking "Co-Authored-by Copilot" into VS Code commits - even with AI off

Microsoft quietly slipped a "Co-Authored-by Copilot" line into Git commits in Visual Studio Code - even for developers who had turned off the AI features entirely. A Microsoft product manager pushed the change through, a principal engineer waved it through without any description, and it was merged on the spot. After heavy backlash on GitHub and Hacker News, the Microsoft developer behind it, Dmitriy Vasyura, owned up to the mistake.

The feature should never have run with AI features disabled, he said, and it shouldn't have tagged commits as AI-generated when no AI was involved. Vasyura said he'd revert the default setting in version 1.119. Many users suspect Microsoft was trying to pad Copilot's usage numbers. There's also concern that the line stayed hidden in the commit window, which could create legal headaches around copyright or trip up companies with strict AI policies. The GitHub discussion has since been locked as spam.