GPT-4.1 in Copilot is Driving Me Mad – Where Did the Commonsense Go?! #163630
Replies: 55 comments 33 replies
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I’m working on a college project and using Copilot with GPT-4.1, but honestly, it’s become super frustrating. Earlier it used to help a lot, but now I feel like I have to explain every small thing to it. It doesn’t understand the flow between files, gives wrong code, and misses basic logic. Instead of helping, it’s slowing me down. I really hope GitHub brings back the older version or fixes these issues soon. |
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🤣 🤣 🤣 I frequently compare GPT to a 2 year old with hands into everything, chocolate smeared on every wall, marker all over every inch of it's body, with a trail of toilet paper highlighting it's every step along the way. I use more CAPS trying to tame it enough to just fix the stupid test, "NOT THE CODE, THE CODE IS FINE! The TEST is broken. HERE #selection, can you fix it now?" and it alerts me at least 10 times that it's identified the real problem and it's definitely fixed, when we all know assuming the test was even touched to begin with (it probably wasn't), it's still definitely not fixed. Solving those sorts of coding problems is not it's strong suit in the least. It is, however, really good in Ask mode when you're in those early planning stages of development and want to explore all the possible ways to achieve a goal. Or explain the pros and cons for a potential development plan. That part it can really excel at, so I usually forgive it for the 10 minutes I just wasted and the corresponding momentary yet substantial increase in blood pressure. |
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Honestly, I can’t tell if chatgpt and Copilot got dumber or if my projects leveled up so hard they left them behind either way, debugging with them lately feels like babysitting two interns with amnesia |
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please repyll me |
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Yep, I don't know what they did since introducing the paid stuff, but what before was awesome, is now awful. Not just mediocre. It's infuriatingly bad. Like so bad I'm about to quit using it altogether, which is very sad, because I had really come to love it and would have paid to keep it. Is that what I'm supposed to do, start doing what I did before but as premium requests now? If so, that's fine, but that wasn't clear to me in the communications that went out. |
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I agree. It feels like I have to correct him evey time it makes a change. It is just lazy and poor compared to claude. No thanks, I’m too frustrated |
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I feel like GPT 4.1 in github copilot is the same as the auto complete stuff we had 2 years ago... literally can not complete ANY features or fix problems with GPT 4.1 and I have to keep doing things manually. Still waiting for my premium requests to reset so I can use at least Claude Sonnet. |
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This all also summarizes my experience sticking on 4.1 for the past days. |
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Gpt4.1 keeps asking me if it should continue, I SAY CONTINUE UNTIL PERFECT!!!!!!! Claude won't do this, claude is always working hard till the end. |
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I am explicit, it works if I use sonnet 3.5 or even other version of gpt. The problem I am describing is explicitly the use of unlimited gpt 4.1 through GitHub copilot.
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…--------- Original Message ---------
From:hari ***@***.***>
To:community/community ***@***.***>
Cc:Ashley Samantha Leslie ***@***.***>,Comment ***@***.***>
Date:Tue Jul 08 18:12:40 GMT+02:00 2025
Subject:Re: [community/community] GPT-4.1 in Copilot is Driving Me Mad – Where Did the Commonsense Go?! (Discussion #163630)
Not really though, i think the use of ai is making the developera too lazy, your problem is the answer for most of the guys out there, you are not being explicit, clear and precise,
Not to offend or anything but, ai is an powerful tool, we just need to make a proper use of it, considering 4.1 is Opensourced too
Try going pro or something.
—Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe.You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: ***@***.***>
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All GPT models in Copilot really sucks. Claude really works well but it got a limit in a day, after that you had to work (fight) with the GPT models... It can't even change a position of a simple button in a jsx file. |
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Copilot officially sucks now after the rate limiting, it feels like we're moving backward instead of forward. Either way, I was recently advised to use Copilot with RooCode if you have been rate limited, have you tried it? Also, there's Gemini Assist now; have you tried that? |
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I've given up with agent mode entirely. It always produces basic code errors, like missing curly brackets, and I'm never sure if it's going to randomly remove an import, for example, for no apparent reason. The chat still helps, sometimes, but I'm very close to cancelling my Copilot subscription. |
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I've used both copilot and cursor for a while, and my general impression is that they're getting worse. I think it's some form of agent hybris. I get much better help just using ChatGPT detached from any IDE. |
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在copilot chat中使用GPT4.1,你可能会遭遇以下要素
english version:
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That is the response I got for asking it to clear the ts error it had introduced. Now bugs have attitude too. It is not just the PMs anymore. |
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Has there been any update from anyone working on this? Are there any planned fixes or updates to address anything in this thread? |
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For anyone still having issues, please try breaking your tasks down into small instructions. I think a lot of issues come from trying to get 4.1 to do absolutely everything without any input. My experience has improved so much over the past month that I don't even think about using Sonnet 4 that much. |
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it's as stupid or as brilliant as the one using it, but for me, it's really helpful, you don't ask what AI can do for you, rather you ask AI on what to do, hesitance to use it originates from the threat it brings but despite all of improvements, even the promised AI Agents will never be a total replacement for Devs, it will encounter edge cases that only humans can solve, it's still limited intelligence but helpful tool however, there are really distinctions between GPT-4.1 and say, Claude 3.7, they both have their advantages and disadvantages like Claude 3.7 is too aggressive and you will be hitting the rate limit sooner while GPT-4.1, you need to force it to scan the codebase to know more about the context because it tends to be lazy but given the proper use, they are as powerful, you leverage from a coder to focusing more on the design and business logic of your codebase I also wrote an article for those interested |
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Sorry for me saying this but it's total fuckin bullshit to pay for such a garbage Ai Agent that is totally garbage and useless where you ask it to crrect 1 error and it makes 246 more and never fixes the error then when fixing errors it like to put fake codes in when asked not to and you even tell it's a restriction and still turns around and does it. I try swtching over to GPT 4.0 and keeps saying I exceeded such garbage I think Github Copilot is going to lose alot of pro users cause in all reality it's not worth the headache of dealing with Ai Agent that messes up more than it can produce .They be better of switching out GPT 4.1 for claude 3.5 or 3.7 |
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Just noticed this. Even gpt-4o (the other free model) is able to read files, but gpt 4.1 just won't. I tell it to go read the file and it tells me to paste the contents. It wasn't always like this iirc. |
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GPT 4.1 API on open ai works so good. Looks like Git hub copilot 4.1 seems to underperform, either a marketing strategy to lure more users to burn premium requests on copilot. Sad. |
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How exactly are you guys using the agent? It's baffling that so many are having such an experience yet some (like me and others) are able to move fast, build features, fix bugs, etc. I work with TypeScript. Maybe it's other languages where issues arise? Maybe some extensions are causing issues? It's so weird. |
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I understand your frustration — switching to GPT-4.1 in Copilot has been a rough experience for quite a few devs, especially around context awareness and reliability.
Open all relevant files before prompting Copilot. It only reads files currently open (and a limited number of tokens), so having the controller/model/schema tabs open gives it more context. If you’re in VS Code, you can use the "Include Additional Context" command (Ctrl+Shift+P → Copilot: Include Additional Context) to manually feed in extra files.
Break tasks into smaller, specific requests instead of broad “write me X” prompts. Use inline comments like: // TODO: Add validation for null values before saving user data Copilot tends to follow explicit in-file notes better than abstract instructions.
Copilot Labs / Settings → switch back to GPT-4 Turbo or even 3.5 for certain tasks. Some devs find these more predictable for boilerplate and schema-aware work. Keep GPT-4.1 for creative/problem-solving tasks, but not for “plumbing” code.
Copilot currently doesn’t have true repo-wide “agent memory.” Until that changes, you can simulate it by: Creating a scratchpad.md in the root of your repo with relevant notes, schema, and relationships. Keeping it open while coding — Copilot will often read from it if in view.
Every time it goes off-track, hit the thumbs-down and write exactly what went wrong. GitHub’s Copilot team does use this data to adjust model behavior. |
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Assalamu Alaikum, GreetingsI have limited interaction with the AI. I only use the independent one as an interactive encyclopedia, which is beneficial. Everything else I do manually, mostly because I am not sure of what outcome I prefer. Neither the finished embodiment. Special Baseline File EntriesThere are special files that can be used to effect a baseline for the 'co-pilot' system. From what I have read, and information that I have gathered, the GitHub 'Co-pilot' program reads those special 'baseline files' from these specific locations: Per repository at this location: Per directory, and or custom instruction set: https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/how-tos/configure-custom-instructions/add-repository-instructions I assume that everyone is taking complete advantage of those potential 'baseline input' methods. Human VS. Machine: YAML?What is remaining is the human vs. machine aspect. The good news is that we can control our inputs, and treat them a lot more like a sequence of command line inputs. I would like to strongly suggest YAML as an input language because:
YAML: A human-readable, data serialization language. Guppie Fishbowl AnalogyI will now proceed to deliver a basic 'guppie-fishbowl' or 'Hoch-Deutsche/Platt-Deutsche' analogy: Germany is a Country in Central Europe. It is made up of various regions, and the regions are made up of municipalities, which are in turn made up of towns. There may be many such differences. These language differences, while not removing them from being considered a 'german-language', potentially define a form of 'Plattdeutsch' (also known as 'Low-German'). Across that country there could potentially be any number of different regions, with language differences defining regional variations. These regional language groups are each 'Plattdeutsch. Hochdeutsch: The language of High-GermanHochdeutsch is something too. This is where it gets interesting: Hochdeutsch is essentially the intersection of all 'Platt-Deutsche' variations. The German upper classes were aware of this, and therefore became adept at speaking Hoch Deutsche: The unifying language understood by all. So, that's where the 'fishbowl' comes back in. The little fish look so colourful at first, and then eventually, after a few generations, they are all kinda the same colour. Not entirely different from the German Language metaphor from before. So, to re-hash the suggestion:
I would wonder whether the language that we must use to interact with the AI prompt can be standardized and formalized at some point.That may be the subject of a completely separate discussion question. Can anyone give feedback about using some degree of YAML like syntax as input? Is that good or bad? Or doesn't matter? |
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It constantly interprets what I say in the dumbest possible way. It is not a copilot if you can't finish your work on time because you had to take care of it. |
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Over the last few days, CoPilot is driving me MAD. It's not LLM issue, it's CoPilot issue -the same problems regardless of the model. It's failing across the board - simple Python issues, Terraform templates... solutions are not just 'not good enough' - they are actually breaking things. What is going on? |
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For me it's now gpt-5 mini that i find is the overall best model for now. |
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I don't know who needs to hear this at GitHub HQ, but this ain’t it. I’ve been using GitHub Copilot since the early days, and now with GPT-4.1 in Copilot… I’m at my wit’s end.
It’s like babysitting a junior dev with amnesia. Commonsense? Gone. Diligence? Missing in action. Every time I fire up a task, I’m not getting a copilot, I’m getting a barely-functioning autocomplete with vibes.
Here’s what’s breaking me:
I literally have to point it to the related files manually. Like, “Hey buddy, yes, check the controller too—no, not the view, the controller. Yes, again.” Why do I need to spell it out like I’m explaining recursion to a potato?
It refuses to double-check anything. It hallucinates code, forgets structure, skips validations, and worse—acts confidently wrong.
I’m in an agent-based workflow, expecting some sort of context awareness. Nope! I’m the one doing all the connecting, error tracing, and file referencing.
And don’t even get me started on database checks—it won’t trace relationships, it won’t look up schema unless I handhold it like it’s on training wheels.
Agent mode? More like Agent Nope. I spend more time cleaning up its lazy suggestions than writing actual code. It’s gone from “superpower” to “super-annoyance.” I used to fly through problems with Copilot. Now it’s like dragging an AI intern who keeps asking where the bathroom is.
Look, I want to love Copilot. I pay for Copilot. But GPT-4.1 is seriously making it feel like I’ve got an overpriced text expander with delusions of grandeur. If this is the future of AI pair programming, then I’m out here living in a bug-filled time loop.
Bring back reliability. Bring back smart file linking. Bring back commonsense! Or at least give us the option to use a better model.
Signed,
A pissed-off dev who just wanted a little help and got an AI anchor instead.
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