LY Corporation Begins Implementation of "GitHub Copilot for Business," an AI Pair Programmer, to All Engineers

On Friday, October 13, 2023, LY Corporation (hereinafter "LYC") will begin implementing GitHub Copilot for Business, an AI pair programmer provided by GitHub, Inc., for all engineers (approximately 7,000) involved in development.

"GitHub Copilot" is a tool which enables engineers to work more effectively and efficiently by using AI to make suggestions for coding tasks in software development (writing in programming languages), and by identifying errors and optimization points from the AI's perspective. Prior to the full-scale introduction, a test implementation was conducted for approximately 550 engineers of LINE Corporation and Yahoo Japan Corporation from June to August 2023. After the test, the results of a qualitative evaluation based on questionnaires and a quantitative activity analysis of various coding on GitHub showed that coding time per engineer per day was reduced by approximately 1-2 hours. In addition, activities were improved by approximately 10-30% in some indicators compared to before the test implementation. These results have led to the decision to formally introduce "GitHub Copilot for Business".

In order to raise employees' awareness of the risks involved in the introduction of "GitHub Copilot for Business," LYC made it mandatory for all eligible employees to take an e-learning course on the use of the tool, and conducted training sessions on how to prevent copyright infringement. In addition, as a measure to ensure the reliability of the generated code, LYC has established rules such as thoroughly conducting multiple reviews.

In March 2023, the "Guideline on the Use of Generative AI" was formulated for all the employees of the Group companies of Z Holdings Corporation (currently LY Corporation) in order to promote appropriate and proactive use of generative AI. Since June 2021, a series of discussions have been held with outside experts at the "Expert Panel on AI Ethics"^*1 to clarify the basic policies necessary for users to feel more secure when using the Group's services and to formulate effective voluntary rules for the use of AI technology.

^*1Z Holdings Hosts "Expert Panel on AI Ethics"
https://www.lycorp.co.jp/news/archive/Z/en/en20210623.pdf

By actively utilizing "GitHub Copilot for Business," LYC will improve the engineers' productivity and will aim to use the time generated from reduced coding time to create new services.

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