Solved I paid Microsoft's premium Copilot agents to do my work - they were confidently bad at it

Borg 386 · 2026-06-05T07:59:28-0400

Copilot agents are built to help with research and analysis.

In my tests, those agents didn't produce useful results.

Troubleshooting with Copilot wasted time and solved nothing.

The chatbot went on to explain that the file link might have worked if I had been using ChatGPT. And one of the workarounds that the agent suggested was to create the file in Google Sheets and send me a link! Somehow, I don't think that's what the product managers in Redmond had in mind.

- Says the other AI's would have worked better...WTG Copilot.

I paid Microsoft's premium Copilot agents to do my work - they were confidently bad at it

Can you get a Copilot agent to do your work for you? I tried, but the AI wasn't ready to play along.

www.zdnet.com

andrew129260 · 2026-06-05T15:40:43-0400

co pilot is the worst out of all of them.

Chat gpt, gemini pro 3 extended, and claude are the only semi good ones.

And they are better at different things.

Ai by its very nature is always confident and that is what makes it dangerous. You have to give it instructions that allow it to fail and tell it your allowed to be unsure when you find conflicting sources and ask me first.

Also giving it instructions like this helps when researching something:

I want you to bypass surface-level, SEO-driven content and prioritize reputable academic databases, peer-reviewed scientific journals, and institutional research. If rigorous, reliable data is not available for a specific question, let me know rather than trying to piece together an answer from subpar sites.

Always provide sources for your data with clickable links

Steve C · 2026-06-06T02:38:27-0400

A prime feature of Artifical Idiots is that they are often confidently wrong so treat their outputs with caution

A Guy · 2026-06-06T04:23:04-0400

https://archive.is/20251119162509/https://medium.com/coding-nexus/why-ai-sometimes-gives-you-the-same-wrong-answer-over-and-over-2cd2eadab3ba

A Guy

Ghot · 2026-06-06T04:41:47-0400

FrancoDT · 2026-06-06T09:35:06-0400

Definitely do not necessarily trust Co-Pilot for trouble shooting issues and bugs on your operating system as it will often give inaccurate advice and have you chasing your tail for no reason lol. I've literally had arguments with Co-Pilot and had to prove it wrong by posting screenshots from my PC before it would admit it's mistakes concerning coding changes from MS. It can be extremely inaccurate when it comes to insider build issues so use with extreme caution. Granted it, it has also solved issues and given useful advice but you have to be able to determine when it starts to waste your time and run you in circles. It will have you trying to fix MS coding errors that only they can fix with future updates if you let it lol.

neldog · 2026-06-06T09:45:47-0400

Ghot said:
View attachment 173531 View attachment 173532

lol - that is @Bree's mushroom.

Bree · 2026-06-06T10:05:24-0400

TraderGary · 2026-06-06T10:28:55-0400

FrancoDT said:
Definitely do not necessarily trust Co-Pilot for trouble shooting issues and bugs on your operating system as it will often give inaccurate advice and have you chasing your tail for no reason lol. I've literally had arguments with Co-Pilot and had to prove it wrong by posting screenshots from my PC before it would admit it's mistakes concerning coding changes from MS. It can be extremely inaccurate when it comes to insider build issues so use with extreme caution. Granted it, it has also solved issues and given useful advice but you have to be able to determine when it starts to waste your time and run you in circles. It will have you trying to fix MS coding errors that only they can fix with future updates if you let it lol.

I've put Copilot to very good use over the past couple of years. But as you say, you have to learn what it's good for and where it can be useless. It helps to understand where and how it gets its information. It's only logical that if you're an Insider working with beta software, Copilot could be next to useless. My best use for Copilot has been with learning Windows internals and how Windows actually works. I used Copilot while studying Mark J. Price's book "C# 14 and .NET 10". Copilot knows the book inside and out and has explained countless things to me until I understood them. Copilot can be useless and often inaccurate when asking subjective questions where answers can be opinions. Copilot is most valuable where answers will be objective and factual. Most all my use of Copilot has been for technical questions.

FDretired · 2026-06-06T11:34:55-0400

TraderGary said:
. Copilot is most valuable where answers will be objective and factual. Most all my use of Copilot has been for technical questions.

This has been my experience. I use copilot extensively. For example I have been asking Copilot questions on my recovery from surgery. The answers given with references were later confirmed by the surgeon on follow up appointment.

Quandary · 2026-06-06T12:50:17-0400

Copilot has helped me with many technical issues, but it is far from perfect. The most disturbing aspect is it conviction that it is providing the correct solution. Then when you point out that it did not work then it suggests another solution that will definitely fix the problem.

FrancoDT · 2026-06-06T13:01:25-0400

Quandary said:
Copilot has helped me with many technical issues, but it is far from perfect. The most disturbing aspect is it conviction that it is providing the correct solution. Then when you point out that it did not work then it suggests another solution that will definitely fix the problem.

And sometimes there is no fix as you are at the mercy of waiting for Microsoft to fix their bug. It does get frustrating when it keeps telling you after every failed step will that explains this or that and now it knows the more specific cause and the only way to fix it but it doesn't lol.

TraderGary · 2026-06-06T13:10:09-0400

I've found that giving Copilot the complete specs on both my machines and then telling Copilot to remember them has made a huge difference in the kind of help and information I get.

FrancoDT · 2026-06-06T13:19:06-0400

TraderGary said:
I've found that giving Copilot the complete specs on both my machines and then telling Copilot to remember them has made a huge difference in the kind of help and information I get.

I do that as well including the exact Windows build number per machine. Course I also remember having to argue with it when it was adamant that certain feature coding wasn't available in my beta build until I enabled it and posted a screenshot of it to Co-Pilot lol. Then it changed its whole tone and admitted MS had snuck it in without it's knowledge lol.

FrancoDT · 2026-06-06T13:30:53-0400

I should point out if you haven't tried it post your command prompts and powershell screens, event viewer, reliability monitor error screenshots etc to Co-Pilot and it does an excellent job of deciphering the coding in them for you. It will also type up nice Feedback Hub reports for you to submit to Microsoft with your screen shots as to the exact failures.

TraderGary · 2026-06-06T13:44:00-0400

FrancoDT said:
I should point out if you haven't tried it post your command prompts and powershell screens, event viewer, reliability monitor error screenshots etc to Co-Pilot and it does an excellent job of deciphering the coding in them for you. It will also type up nice Feedback Hub reports for you to submit to Microsoft with your screen shots as to the exact failures.

Yes! I do that too! That's really helpful when you are setting up a new machine and missing some settings! Copilot finds things that I might not have otherwise considered. I've learned a lot about Windows and my computers from Copilot.

Josey Wales · 2026-06-06T15:08:59-0400

FrancoDT said:
I do that as well including the exact Windows build number per machine. Course I also remember having to argue with it when it was adamant that certain feature coding wasn't available in my beta build until I enabled it and posted a screenshot of it to Co-Pilot lol. Then it changed its whole tone and admitted MS had snuck it in without it's knowledge lol.

That has to be done with all of the AI out there.

TairikuOkami · 2026-06-06T15:17:16-0400

It is funny and sad at the same time, all those CEOs do not realize that AI does not exist.
The current AI is just a glorified search combining results into one post, nothing more.
You can paint a brick as Tesla, you can call it Tesla, but it will not be Tesla, just a brick.

Solved I paid Microsoft's premium Copilot agents to do my work - they were confidently bad at it

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