<p>The GitHub <a href="https://docs.github.com/en/site-policy/privacy-policies/github-general-privacy-statement#private-repositories-github-access" rel="nofollow noreferrer">privacy statement</a> currently states private repos can only be accessed by staff if you give them permission of for a short list of other specific reasons that doesn't including LLM training. The <a href="https://github.com/features/copilot/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">copilot website</a> states:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>GitHub Copilot is powered by generative AI models developed by GitHub, OpenAI, and Microsoft. It has been trained on natural language text and source code from publicly available sources, including code in public repositories on GitHub.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>You can never rule it out, and once you give them your data they can basically do whatever shady stuff they want with it ... but if they got caught training CoPilot with private repo data I think it would be a scandal.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-10-21T06:10:14.327Z
2024-10-21T06:10:14.327Z
spinkus
<p>I'm using GitHub Classroom for my class.</p>
<p>I wrote an assignment and pushed it together with the solution to a private repo in my org.</p>
<p>The assignment includes parts of the solution for the students to use as a skeleton.</p>
<p>I'm wondering if in this case, students that use GitHub Copilot, while working on the skeleton, might get autocompletions from Copilot that are taken from the actual solution that I wrote and pushed into the private repo.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-05-13T13:07:02.200Z
Welcome to the fun. Darn good question, for your case and for Copilot in general. I'll await the answers nearly as eagerly as you.
Gypsy Spellweaver
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-05-14T22:26:45.443Z
Eventually it'll probably wind up used in some training, but likely not during the semester you've deployed it in, and even if it is doesn't mean it'll be regurgitated verbatim. A bit of an aside: I'm surprised there hasn't been more discussion of the implications of LLMs on CSE.se. Isn't it the biggest game-changer to hit CS education in... decades?
ggorlen
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-05-15T05:37:09.170Z
@ggorlen that is very true. It's a game changer on every subject but probably most of all on cs. For now though i think it's still producing enough garbage output that is manageable from educational perspective IMO but the question is how long that will last. However I think this is perhaps more of a reddit type discussion.
traveh
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-10-22T12:44:52.040Z
@traveh It's true that it's more of a reddit discussion (which makes me despair for the prospects of the SE networks more generally), but there hasn't been a ton of conversation on the cseducators subreddit there, either.  I think either it hasn't been as bad as many think, or it hasn't been as bad YET, so people are just getting by doing mostly what they've already done.
Ben I.
<github>
Is GitHub Copilot constantly training on private data?
# Is GitHub Copilot constantly training on private data?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2023-05-13)

I'm using GitHub Classroom for my class.

I wrote an assignment and pushed it together with the solution to a private repo in my org.

The assignment includes parts of the solution for the students to use as a skeleton.

I'm wondering if in this case, students that use GitHub Copilot, while working on the skeleton, might get autocompletions from Copilot that are taken from the actual solution that I wrote and pushed into the private repo.

**Tags:** github

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Welcome to the fun. Darn good question, for your case and for Copilot in general. I'll await the answers nearly as eagerly as you.  
> **username_2**: Eventually it'll probably wind up used in some training, but likely not during the semester you've deployed it in, and even if it is doesn't mean it'll be regurgitated verbatim. A bit of an aside: I'm surprised there hasn't been more discussion of the implications of LLMs on CSE.se. Isn't it the biggest game-changer to hit CS education in... decades?  
> **username_0**: @username_2 that is very true. It's a game changer on every subject but probably most of all on cs. For now though i think it's still producing enough garbage output that is manageable from educational perspective IMO but the question is how long that will last. However I think this is perhaps more of a reddit type discussion.  
> **username_3**: @username_0 It's true that it's more of a reddit discussion (which makes me despair for the prospects of the SE networks more generally), but there hasn't been a ton of conversation on the cseducators subreddit there, either.  I think either it hasn't been as bad as many think, or it hasn't been as bad YET, so people are just getting by doing mostly what they've already done.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2024-10-21. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

The GitHub [privacy statement](https://docs.github.com/en/site-policy/privacy-policies/github-general-privacy-statement#private-repositories-github-access) currently states private repos can only be accessed by staff if you give them permission of for a short list of other specific reasons that doesn't including LLM training. The [copilot website](https://github.com/features/copilot/) states:

> GitHub Copilot is powered by generative AI models developed by GitHub, OpenAI, and Microsoft. It has been trained on natural language text and source code from publicly available sources, including code in public repositories on GitHub.

You can never rule it out, and once you give them your data they can basically do whatever shady stuff they want with it ... but if they got caught training CoPilot with private repo data I think it would be a scandal.


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