11 Commonly Asked Questions About Microsoft Copilot

So, you’ve heard about Microsoft Copilot… but what exactly is it and how can you tap into its benefits? We’re here to bring clarity on all things Copilot – from what it is, to who can harness its power, how it operates, and everything in between.  With Copilot you can boost productivity, seamlessly integrate workflows, elevate decision-making processes, and unlock creativity. Join us to discover how you can transform your digital workspace, fostering a culture of innovation, efficiency, and responsible Copilot use.  

What is Copilot?

Microsoft Copilot is an AI-powered digital assistant to help users with tasks and activities.  

Copilot is a subscription-based service that delivers the most advanced features and capabilities – bringing performance, productivity, and creativity. It provides:

• A single AI experience to run across your devices (understanding context on your PC, the web, and other apps on your phone).
• Access to Copilot in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote.
• Enhanced AI image creation with Image Creator from Designer (formerly Bing Image Creator).
• The ability to build your own Copilot GPT – a customized Copilot tailored for a specific topic.

Who can use Copilot?

Individuals and organizations are using Copilot. Home users can subscribe to the free version of Copilot or Copilot Pro. Business organizations can subscribe to Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365.

Copilot for Microsoft 365 is available for small and large businesses. Microsoft has removed the 300-seat minimum for commercial plans and customers can now purchase Copilot through value-added resellers, such as EDCi.

What can Microsoft Copilot do?

Copilot integrates extensive language models (LLMs) with the power of Microsoft Graph intelligence. Using your business data, Copilot processes information from documents, emails, and messages to give you summaries, address business questions, and create preliminary drafts.

Below are a few examples of how Copilot can assist different departments within your organization:

Finance: Copilot can help summarize financial reports, generate preliminary drafts of financial statements, and address business questions related to finance.

Marketing: Copilot can assist in generating content, summarizing market research, and providing insights on customer behavior.

Human Resources: Copilot can help draft HR policies, summarize employee feedback, and provide answers to HR-related questions.

Operations: Copilot can assist in summarizing operational reports, generating preliminary drafts of operational plans, and addressing business questions related to operations.

Information Technology: Copilot can help draft technical documentation, summarize technical reports, and provide answers to IT-related questions.

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How does Copilot work?

Copilot, powered by a sophisticated language mode, mimics natural language, and enhances conversation through Reinforcement Learning with Human Feedback (RLHF). When prompted, it provides text suggestions based on specified Microsoft 365 data using domain-specific language (DSL).  While designed to mimic human communication, outputs may be inaccurate or outdated.

The Microsoft 365 Copilot system integrates:

1. Microsoft 365 applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, etc.)
2. Microsoft Graph incorporates your organization’s content and context.  
3. The GPT-4 Large Language Model (LLM) which parses, understands, and generates human-readable text..

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How can you implement Microsoft Copilot and other third–party AI models without compromising security?

When organizations use third-party AI models, they risk exposing their data. Copilot addresses this challenge by employing Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG), allowing Copilot to utilize private enterprise data security. Here’s how it works:

1. Information Retrieval: Copilot uses an information retrieval system to find relevant data from the user’s private data when a query is submitted.  
2. Prompt Engineering: The retrieved data is combined with a prompt, guiding the LLM in generating the desired output.
3. LLM Generation: The LLM generates text based on the prompt and retrieved data, leveraging its extensive training on text and code data sets.  
4. Output Delivery: The generated text provides insights and assistance based on the user’s private enterprise data.

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Microsoft places a high priority on data security and has implemented robust measures to safeguard private enterprise data.

• ‍Governance: Microsoft’s Data Access Controls regulate access what data within its ecosystem, ensuring only authorized individuals have access to sensitive information. ‍
• Data Isolation: Through RAG, all data remains within the Microsoft 365 service boundary, preventing sharing with third parties. ‍
• Model Training Exclusion: Prompts, responses, and grounding data generated with RAG are not utilized to train the foundational models, mitigating the risk of data leakage. ‍
• Private Azure OpenAI Instance: Microsoft maintains a dedicated instance of Azure OpenAI, ensuring that OpenAI does not have access to customer data or models.
• Check out our latest blog on Mastering Data Governance with Microsoft Copilot for more information.

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What are the best ways to use Copilot?

1. Create or edit content including rewriting, revising, or copy-editing your work.
2. Ask Copilot work questions, for help generating content, for a summary of a document, topic, or conversation. The more specific your prompt is, the better results you will receive. Examples include:

• Summarize unread emails from Dylan.
• Draft a message to my team with action items from my last meeting.
• What is our vacation policy?
• Who am I meeting with tomorrow?  

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How does Copilot generate content and what similarity might exist between its inputs and other existing internet content?

Copilot generates content based on language patterns found across the internet. Sometimes its outputs/results may be very similar to existing internet content.

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Are Microsoft and ChatGPT related?
Microsoft and OpenAI are not directly affiliated. However, they are working together to develop the underlying AI. ChatGPT is an AI language model developed by OpenAI and Microsoft is developing and providing the supercomputing infrastructure that OpenAI services run on.

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Can I trust Copilot’s answers are accurate?

While Copilot is designed to provide helpful, accurate, and informative responses based on the knowledge and data available in Microsoft Graph, it’s important to remember it may not always produce entirely accurate or reliable answers. The accuracy of Copilot’s responses can vary depending on factors such as the complexity of the query, and the quality of the. Data it has been trained on, and the specific context of the request. It is always important to verify the information from multiple sources when necessary.  

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Do I need to link my personal Microsoft account to my work account to use Copilot?

You no longer need to link your personal account to your work account. To use Copilot in Bing Business, sign into Microsoft Edge with your work account.

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What are the main differences between Copilot, Copilot Pro, and Microsoft 365 Copilot?

Copilot

• Free AI service that brings ChatGPT technology to the masses.
• Assists you in searching the web, creating content, generating images, and answering complex questions.
• Free access to AI
• Available across PC, phone, and web
• Does not include AI in Office
• Wait times during peak hours.
• Access: Copilot.microsoft.com
• New name for Bing Chat

Copilot Pro

• Paid subscription
• Enables AI features in Office apps.

• Priority during peak office times
• Faster performance
• Does not include much additional value over the free version.
• For individual use

Copilot for Microsoft 365  

• Paid subscription
• Available to organizations of all sizes
• Integrates with Teams, Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel, and other Microsoft 365 apps.
• AI-powered chat with Microsoft Copilot
• Create plugins for your data and automation using Copilot.
• Enterprise-grade security, privacy, and compliance.

Pros include:

• Boost productivity.
• Seamlessly integrate.
• Enhance skills.
• Unleash creativity.
• Enhance decision-making.

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Now that you’re equipped with the knowledge, it’s time to dive in and experience the magic of Copilot firsthand. As you navigate the modern workplace, EDCi is here to help empower your team with the knowledge and skills needed to navigate the complexities of AI implementation.  

Consider participating in our 1-Day - Unlock the Power of Copilot with Confidence: Secure Copilot Transformation Workshop. Join us to discover how you can transform your digital workspace, fostering a culture of innovation, efficiency, and responsible Copilot use. Don’t miss this opportunity to elevate your Copilot journey with confidence.

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