GitHub has a product experience team, similar to Facebook and Google. The company is now rolling out an app that lets developers test their code on the web. It's called GitHub Next; it was created in 2012 as part of its open-source software project. A lot of companies have these sorts of R&D groups but they don't always turn into big success stories.
Ryan J. Salva is the VP of Product at GitHub, where he led the incubation and launch of Copilot. Copilot uses OpenAI’s ML engine to suggest code and entire functions in real time, right from your editor, and is changing the way we build software. Ryan is an experienced developer and product manager, with over a decade of experience working for Microsoft before moving to lead the GitHub product team. In today’s episode, he shares how Copilot got its start, how it moved from prototype to live product, and how he structures R&D teams within larger companies. He also discusses the ethical questions surrounding AI use and how to build a successful product team, and shares the inside story of the development of Copilot.