What version of Gemini were you using? i.e. were you calling it locally via the API or thru their Gemini or AI Studio web apps?
Not every LLM app has access to web / news search capabilities turned on by default. This makes a huge difference in what kind of results you should expect. Of course, the AI should be aware that it doesn't have access to web / news search, and it should tell you as much rather than hallucinating fake links. If access to web search was turned on, and it still didn't properly search the web for you, that's a problem as well.
Consider using a better AI IDE platform than Copilot ... cursor, windsurf, cline, all great options that do much better than what you're describing. The underlying LLM capabilities also have advanced quite a bit in the past year.
Not every LLM app has access to web / news search capabilities turned on by default. This makes a huge difference in what kind of results you should expect. Of course, the AI should be aware that it doesn't have access to web / news search, and it should tell you as much rather than hallucinating fake links. If access to web search was turned on, and it still didn't properly search the web for you, that's a problem as well.