GitHub Copilot angles for promotion from assistant to agent

Build Microsoft's GitHub Copilot can now act as a coding agent, capable of implementing tasks or addressing posted issues within the code hosting site.

What distinguishes a coding agent from an AI assistant is that it can iterate over its own output, possibly correcting errors, and can infer tasks that have not been specified to complete a prompted task.

But wait, further clarification is required. Having evidently inherited Microsoft's penchant for confusing names, the GitHub Copilot coding agent is not the same thing as the GitHub Copilot agent mode, which debuted in February.

Agent mode refers to synchronous (real-time) collaboration. You set a goal and the AI helps you get there. The coding agent is for asynchronous work – you delegate tasks, the coding agent then sets off on its own to do them while you do other things.

"Embedded directly into GitHub, the agent starts its work when ...