Saying an auto complete of a line of code is "using their work" is a massive stretch.
When it's demonstrated that it can generate whole function bodies intact (fast inverse square root debacle), and autocomplete it with a wrong license, it's not a stretch anymore.
See: https://twitter.com/mitsuhiko/status/1410886329924194309
Re:Copilot sells code other people wrote
by sirsinsalot on Thursday June 23, 2022 @05:31PM
(#31855397)
It isn't autocompleting "a line of code", it completes whole function bodies.
The mechanised license ignorance and the way original authors are not compensated is the issue.
If you had a repo you'd worked really hard on, and offered a commercial license or GPL depending on the use (so you can be funded to work on it) ... do you think it is fair that copilot ingests that code and allows others to benefit from your work and knowledge without the commercial license as you intended?
Note how Microsoft always throws out the capitalism "rules of engagement" when it benefits them and undermines everything else. The fact we are even trusting the situation Microsoft are creating is dire, and speaks to the short memory of our industry.