Should AI Be Listed as a Co-Author in Your Git Commits?

This article explores whether developers should credit AI assistants like **Claude** or **GitHub Copilot** as co-authors in git commits when they contribute substantially to code development.

The author argues for **transparency in AI attribution**, drawing parallels to citing Stack Overflow solutions or other code sources. Key points include:

• **When to attribute**: For substantial AI contributions like complete functions or features, not minor tab-completion or syntax fixes • **Why it matters**: Provides context for future maintainers, signals areas needing careful review, and establishes good precedent as AI becomes more prevalent • **Practical approach**: Use co-author tags for major contributions, **[AI]** tags for significant assistance, and detailed "AI Involvement" sections in pull requests • **Decision framework**: Attribution depends on whether AI wrote complete functions, generated majority of commit, or solved core logic problems

The author acknowledges counter-arguments (AI is "just another tool," adds noise) but maintains that substantial AI contributions deserve the same attribution standards applied to other code sources.