GitHub

Where the world builds software

GitHub was founded in 2008 as a platform for version control using Git, created by Tom Preston-Werner, Chris Wanstrath, PJ Hyett, and Scott Chacon. What began as a simple code hosting service evolved into the world's largest developer platform, enabling collaborative software development at unprecedented scale. The platform's transformation into an AI company began with the launch of GitHub Copilot in 2021, developed in partnership with OpenAI. Copilot was one of the first widely-adopted AI coding assistants, using large language models to suggest code completions, generate entire functions, and help developers write code more efficiently. GitHub Copilot represents a paradigm shift in software development, demonstrating how AI can augment human creativity and productivity. The tool has been adopted by millions of developers and organizations, with studies showing productivity improvements of up to 55% for common coding tasks. GitHub has continued to expand its AI offerings with Copilot Enterprise, Copilot Workspace, and integration with models beyond OpenAI. Under Microsoft's ownership, GitHub has also embraced open source through initiatives like GitHub Codespaces, GitHub Actions, and GitHub Advanced Security. The platform remains neutral and inclusive of all development tools and cloud providers, serving as the backbone of the modern software development ecosystem.