Everything new for GitHub from Universe 2022, including coding with your voice and AI

GitHub Universe 2022 banner
(Image credit: GitHub)

What you need to know

  • GitHub Universe, an event focused on cloud, security, community, and AI, was held this week.
  • At the conference, GitHub announced several new tools for developers and programmers.
  • One of tools in an experimental feature called "Hey, GitHub!" that lets you code with your voice.

GitHub Universe is a global developer event from Microsoft that focuses on cloud, security, community, and AI. Quite a few new tools and options were unveiled this week during the event, including AI tools, new collaboration options, and security enhancements.

A new feature for Copilot will let developers code by using their voice with VS Code. Programmers will be able to summon the tool by saying "Hey, GitHub!" and then get to work by speaking. The tool is an experimental feature within Copilot, which uses AI to write code. It's certainly time-consuming to hand-write, or speak, and format each character of your code, so an AI helper should speed up the process. Doubtless, Microsoft's investments in OpenAI and Nuance are being leveraged here to benefit developers. 

Since Hey, GitHub! is an experimental tool, it may never become a full-fledged product. But developers can sign up to try it now.

GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke outlined everything new for the developer platform that was announced at GitHub Universe 2022. The highlights are listed below, but Dohmke's post goes more into depth on each topic.

GitHub Copilot

  • Business over busy work: GitHub Copilot for business helps you increase developer productivity by 55% with AI-based coding suggestions.
  • An experiment from GitHub Next: “Hey, GitHub!” enables voice-based interaction with GitHub Copilot, enabling the benefits of an AI pair programmer while reducing the need for a keyboard.

Collaboration

  • Ready when you are: now, individual developers will get up to 60 hours of GitHub Codespaces for free every month to start building in seconds.
  • Browsing made better: code search and code view enable you to rapidly search, navigate, and understand code, right from GitHub.com.

Planning and tracking

  • Your organizational buddy: roadmap empowers you to keep an eye on the timing and progress of your work and share it with anyone.
  • Markdown reimagined: Tasklists decomposes issues into tasks, converts tasks to issues, visualizes your relationships in GitHub Projects, and more—all in a polished, new UI.
  • Projects in your pocket: Projects on GitHub Mobile brings the power of GitHub to the palm of your hand, enabling you to contribute and collaborate from anywhere.

Enterprise

  • Enterprise in the cloud: with GitHub Enterprise Cloud, you get access to our newest features as soon as they’re released.
  • Run with the best: GitHub-hosted runners give you access to more powerful compute resources, fixed IP ranges, and increased concurrency for your workflows.
  • CI/CD migration made easy: GitHub Actions Importer gets you up and running faster by planning and executing migrations from your former CI/CD tool to GitHub Actions.
  • Fine-grained goodness: organization admins now have personal access tokens (PATs), along with developers, enabling granular control over permissions and repository access.
  • Tap your tokens: enable authentication token data in your enterprise audit log to display for audit log events.
  • Revolutionize Internet of Things (IoT) software development: Arm Development tools are natively available inside GitHub Actions.
  • Keep building: GitHub Enterprise Server 3.7, with 70 new features, is generally available for those who want to self-host the power of GitHub.

Security

  • Shhh! Maintainers of open source repositories can now receive private vulnerability reports from the community and collaborate on a solution.
  • Stay secure in Ruby: CodeQL support for Ruby is now generally available by default in GitHub.com code scanning, CodeQL CLI, and the CodeQL extension for VS Code.
  • Protection unlimited: security overview’s new risk and coverage views provide greater security visibility for GitHub Enterprise users.

Community

  • Celebrating 10 years of Octoverse: what does the world of open source development look like in 2022? Explore how communities, organizations, and companies are collaborating and investing in open source.
  • Committing to the future: GitHub Accelerator will provide stipends and mentorship for 20 maintainers and teams to launch full-time open source careers.
  • Open source forever: the new $10 million M12 GitHub Fund will ensure that open source continues to get the funding it needs.
  • All for one: GitHub Sponsors will let you support your dependencies all at once, by uploading a list of maintainers you want to support plus the amounts of the sponsorships.
Sean Endicott
News Writer and apps editor

Sean Endicott is a tech journalist at Windows Central, specializing in Windows, Microsoft software, AI, and PCs. He's covered major launches, from Windows 10 and 11 to the rise of AI tools like ChatGPT. Sean's journey began with the Lumia 740, leading to strong ties with app developers. Outside writing, he coaches American football, utilizing Microsoft services to manage his team. He studied broadcast journalism at Nottingham Trent University and is active on X @SeanEndicott_ and Threads @sean_endicott_.