From github.com:

Important update

On April 24 we'll start using GitHub Copilot interaction data for AI model training unless you opt out.ย Review this updateย and manage your preferences in yourย GitHub account settings.

This is an exceptionally important announcement, though it's one I've been predicting for a while.

StackOverflow is dead, and the bots sucked up all of its knowledge, and GitHub repos' knowledge, and MSDN's knowledge, and...

And we wondered how AI would continue progressing if there was no reason to keep posting answers to the net "for free".

But it was obvious. Now each AI engine is storing (will soon be storing?) the answer to each question in its own StackOverflow, so to speak, but one tuned for AI, not humans. Every time you give Copilot the thumbs up or positive feedback (or some other way it figures you likely used its code), it's going to file that away as "The Right Answer for You". You have your own Jon Skeet in your workstation in exchange for your answers being in their own paywalled database. (Not that there's anything inherently wrong with wanting to make a buck.)

If all the best programmers use Claude going forward, guess where the best answers are going to come from?

Or, as it looks like Copilot wants to do, what if all the best answers are stored in Copilot's corpus? Then regardless of which model you use, the best answers (and autogenerated code) to the questions (and prompts that implicitly ask those questions) that used to go to StackOverflow will come from Copilot.

That's what's next, folk. Actually, that's what's now. All the knowledge that you helped build if you leave that setting on its default will be behind a paywall.

There's a great podcast with Nilay Patel and the CEO of Grammarly where Patel essentially asks: "Okay, [very not] cool, you're using my name and ostensibly my style. How much are you going to pay me for that?"

(Though I suppose the opposite is, "You're happily paying $10/mth for Copilot now. You think you could even sniff that magic without contributing your labor? You'd still be posting to StackOverflow, hoping someone would be kind enough to post something useful back, which used to be amazingly common, but when's the last time that's happened for you?" It's an interesting counterpoint.

Perhaps we should unionize before they alter the deal any further, like making it $75/mth. Or $175. Or more. Because they could.)

Every so often go out to the middle of the woods, turn off WiFi and cellular, and make sure you can still code. And then realize that's not really your job any more.

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