OpenAI o1 “Strawberry” Finally Available on GitHub Copilot Chat with VS Code Integration

GitHub is not sitting quiet ever since the launch of Cursor and other AI coding tools. The team has launched OpenAI's o1-preview and o1-mini models, available on Azure. These models can be accessed via GitHub Copilot and Models. 

Developers can sign up for access to use OpenAI o1 within GitHub Copilot Chat through VS Code and in the GitHub Models playground.

Who doesn't love a little model switch action. OpenAI o1-preview now available in GitHub Copilot Chat w/VS Code. pic.twitter.com/luYwUiR1wj

— Thomas Dohmke (@ashtom) September 19, 2024

Developers can seamlessly switch between models during a session, shifting from generating boilerplate code or explaining APIs to designing intricate algorithms or diagnosing logic bugs. By utilising o1-preview or o1-mini with GitHub Copilot, users get a firsthand experience of the models’ capabilities in addressing complex coding problems.

AIM had earlier said that it is necessary for GitHub and Microsoft to make GitHub Copilot and VS Code integration seamless to compete with the likes of Cursor, which is a fork of VS Code itself. We also said that OpenAI’s o1 will finally save GitHub Copilot from Cursor. Even though GitHub Copilot did not need much saving, this action is definitely a step in the right direction. 

GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke, earlier posted a sneak peek of this. He posted on X a video of GitHub Copilot in VS Code running with OpenAI’s o1 model, which he calls “flat out badass”. The new model has already been integrated within GitHub Copilot and is making AI pair programming a lot smarter.

The battle is getting intense though. Developers have also started implementing o1 within Cursor Composer and creating apps. Cursor, similar to VS Code, enables much more flexibility when integrating LLMs, making it ideal for several developers.