My experience with CoPilot
It's only good for search
I've given up on trying to use CoPilot to write a Python program to translate infix expressions into machine instructions. The biggest thing I got from CoPilot is a refresher on Python. I've also thought deeply about the problem. I've tried to tell that to CoPilot, and it just keeps writing more and more ridiculous code.
So, the only good thing about this is, I got a good refresher on Python, and I came up with a bunch of ways I can look at the problem. Now I can write the code myself. I'm not using CoPilot again, unless I just need a refresher on syntax and idioms used in a language or tool. For example, it wrote a very simplistic program in PowerShell, and that was useful,
I am very sold on using it for search. It has saved me tons of time looking for things, but that is all it's good for. Asking it about modern idioms used in Python is a search question, and I should have just started with that.
Gary
I have been using Cursor a lot. I tried Copilot since it was one of the firsts, and Windsurf because of its good free tier, and now I use Cursor with the lowest level of subscription plan.
The agent mode of these tools feel to me a lot like having an intern. The agent has gobs of energy and is very happy, as you say, to search around the web for ways to do things. Getting a good result, though, involved giving some structure to it to harness all that energy.
Giving that structure, in turn, is a skill set all of its own. Like any skill, it will improve with practice.
I saw this on Facebook, too. I'm not sure what you're trying to achieve. Could you give an example of input and expected output? I'd like to use a couple of the language models I suggested to you there, and see if they fare better than Copilot.