Microsoft says "reliability is the priority" for AI in Visual Studio – a reassurance that may raise eyebrows among developers already living with Copilot's quirks.

Microsoft has been relentlessly shoveling AI assistants into its venerable code wrangler in recent years, but has now [1]stated : "We're shifting focus to reliability and refinement."

Sadly, that focus does not extend to dealing with the occasionally clunky and bloated set of tools that have evolved over decades. Instead, Microsoft is focusing on "tightening core workflows, improving agent stability, and building on the MCP foundations we've been laying."

[2]

While the company was careful not to commit to delivering anything, it said it was working to keep Copilot rapid as context grows, kicking off early work to integrate the Copilot CLI into Visual Studio Copilot, and taking initial steps toward a dedicated agent for multi-step task planning and execution.

[3]

[4]

It also said it would handle scenarios where Copilot and IntelliSense trip over each other or where suggestions appear at the same time. "To resolve these conflicts, we will prioritize IntelliSense completions over Copilot suggestions as it's more predictable and a loved feature."

[5]VS Code for Linux may be secretly hoarding trashed files

[6]Microsoft ships .NET 10 LTS and Visual Studio 2026, Copilot everywhere

[7]JetBrains backs open AI coding standard that could gnaw at VS Code dominance

[8]Let us git rid of it, angry GitHub users say of forced Copilot features

IntelliSense first appeared in Visual Basic 5 a full 30 years ago, although the concept of code completion predates it. Where Copilot attempts to generate useful code snippets, IntelliSense focuses on basic code completion.

In 2023, Microsoft [9]announced that IntelliSense in Visual Studio would "steer" GitHub Copilot based on a developer's selection in IntelliSense's list.

While Microsoft's declaration that it will prioritize reliability and IntelliSense completions over Copilot suggestions will be welcomed, there are plenty of facets in the suite that could use attention, but don't fall under the category of AI features.

[10]

This was articulated in a [11]comment on Microsoft's announcement:

"I know a small percentage of people are interested in AI, but why must all concentration be on shoe-horning it into every products [sic] when there is so much else that needs to be done?

"SDKs are buggy and incomplete (MAUI/WinUI3 etc), yet get absolutely no love whatsoever. Hundreds of genuine problems and/or enhancements remain outstanding for Visual Studio and all M$ is looking at is damned Co-Pilot."

[12]

Surely not. ®

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[1] https://devblogs.microsoft.com/visualstudio/roadmap-for-ai-in-visual-studio-february/

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[5] https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/04/vs_code_for_linux_trash_fail/

[6] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/12/net_10_c_14_visual/

[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/07/jetbrains_acp_vs_code/

[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/05/github_copilot_complaints/

[9] https://devblogs.microsoft.com/visualstudio/github-copilot-visual-studio-intellisense/

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[11] https://devblogs.microsoft.com/visualstudio/roadmap-for-ai-in-visual-studio-february/?commentid=30657#comment-30657

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[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/