MASTERING MICROSOFT Ep01 - Understanding Microsoft Copilot & Intro to Prompt Engineering

JIM’S NOTE

1/26/2024.? Hi.? This is Jim.? I’m trying something new – which is I’m collaborating with AI to create this newsletter.? The grounding data is all real, as is some of the style and flair.? Maybe the word choices are all AI, but it’s fun to see what I can create with a machine under my fingers.? And so, with a fully recharged sense of responsibility and inspiration I am going to create a series of videos and newsletters called MASTERING MICROSOFT.? The idea originally was to help our sales team understand what’s new with Microsoft Cloud and AI – not just understanding the concepts, but going deep into pricing and pre-requisites, technical limitations, service description, and real-world use cases.? But after thinking more, it seemed like we should share all that we learn about Microsoft Cloud and AI with our customers freely on the Internet.

And so, the first episode this week is all about Microsoft Copilot and starting to create your own AI prompts to talk with the machine.? I hope you’ll subscribe to our newsletter here on LinkedIn and also subscribe to our video channel on YouTube so you can watch along as we discover how AI will change our business world!

------and now, I let the AI take over…..if you will, please….Copilot:

THE WEEK AT FINCHLOOM

As we embark on a new week, a fresh sense of invigoration and innovation fills the air at Finchloom. The lights twinkling on our computer monitors and the symphony of keyboard strokes echo through the office, signifying a relentless pursuit of excellence—we are adding another colorful chapter to our Microsoft-powered journey, and it’s one that I am elated to share with you -----

WE CAN NOW SELL COPILOT FOR MICROSOFT 365!!!

During last week’s orbits, we ventured deep into the realms of Artificial Intelligence and Microsoft 365. Microsoft’s collaboration with OpenAI has brought an exciting new tool to our fingertips: ChatGPT, or "Generative AI". This development is set to add a powerful dynamic to our working lives, streamlining efficiencies and putting rote and mundane tasks (not people) on the layoffs list. From the integration of AI at Finchloom to joining the Microsoft FastTrack Ready Partner Program, we have solidified our place at the cutting edge of technological evolution to help customers both with READINESS for Copilot for Microsoft 365 as well as DEPLOYMENT and ADOPTION. As we navigate Finchloom through these exciting waters, I believe Albert Einstein's words fit the scenario perfectly: "Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution".

As we integrate AI across our services, we see it as a catalyst to spark our inventive capacities. Visible everywhere in the business world is the buzz of Microsoft Copilot (Formerly Bing Chat Enterprise). This AI-driven tool helps individuals to efficiently search the Internet or compose written material—be it emails, blogs, or letters.? ?In another variation tailored for business use, Copilot for Microsoft 365 steps up as a trusty assistant, helping analyze business documents retrieving precious business-related content. Not only has Microsoft granted accessibility to all Office 365/Microsoft 365 E3 or E5 clients, but Finchloom is also right there, spearheading the program of Adoption & Change Management.? We're moving past mere adaptation as we endeavor to 'steer the wheel' in the Microsoft ecosystem, Not just aligning our services, but intertwining our visions, values, and mission with those of Microsoft, This involves not only deploying and adopting Microsoft solutions for the day-to-day tasks but also teaching our clients how to fish—with technology, of course.

The narratives shared in our corridors bore many tales. One such story revolved around the transformative impact of AI-assisted note-taking during meetings. Rather than extracting details from a continuous stream of topics, the AI involvement has brought about a time of effective, relaxed, and interactive meetings. Reading meeting highlights in under a minute instead of dedicating 30.?? Also, granting us the ability to catch-up on meetings we are double-booked for, or unable to be at the start for!? Truly revolutionary for staying aware of what’s going on.

Engagement with AI tools like Microsoft Copilot has been like undraping the elusive secret of ubiquitous productivity. At Finchloom, we've used it for creating and summarizing documents, driving efficiencies. The 'future of work' isn't just a buzz phrase anymore; it is happening here and now. One of the headlines last week at Finchloom incorporated launching our very own Managed Services for Microsoft 365 – which we call “Finchloom+”, This isn’t just another product. It is our commitment to you, the promise to our clients, that we are here to deliver the best and exceed expectations.?? Our relationship with our customers does not end with Deployment and Adoption.? Our new Finchloom+ Managed Services allows us now to continue to MANAGE and SUPPORT our customer’s cloud services. Every day, our narrative intertwines more and more with the grand epic being carved out in the world of Microsoft cloud and AI technology. Eager anticipation and unyielding aspiration empower us to dive headfirst into the torrent of transformation.

With Microsoft by our side and a promise to remain at the forefront of technological innovation, we continue to chase horizons we once thought were unreachable. After all, in the words of HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey, "I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do", As we plunge into this riveting new chapter, let's blaze a trail of inspiration, setting standards for the rest of the commercial IT users of Microsoft cloud and AI technology. Doing nothing less than leaving a mark on the tech landscapes of today and tomorrow, we promise to show you the power of passion and the "love for Microsoft Cloud and AI". With excitement and anticipation,

Jim, Your Chief Navigator at Finchloom

?

Now, at this point, if you’d rather go watch Episode 01 on YouTube, it’s only 20 minutes long:? https://youtu.be/EX1SOG613As?? Or if you’d rather read it, keep going below...

TRANSCRIPT OF EPISODE 01? (It’s fun if you ask your computer to read this to you in your headset) ?

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Today I will cover four main topics. Today's session is an AI overview, so I will explain what AI is and the two kinds of components that exist today. We will discuss the two tools that we will use as a pilot group. The first one is Microsoft Copilot, which is AI for the web. The second one is Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365, which is AI for work. So you can think of them as AI for web and AI for work. Then we will talk about prompt engineering, what it is, how to use it, and how it helps make AI work better. Finally, I want to end the session by asking you to do one thing. For the next two weeks, I want you to try to replace search with Copilot. That means, whenever you need to search for something on Google or Bing, use Microsoft Copilot for web instead. And whenever you need to find a document, a meeting, or an old email, use Copilot for Microsoft 365 instead. That's your task: use Copilot instead of search for the next week and see if we can form a habit.

To begin, let's have an overview of AI. AI is a broad term that stands for artificial intelligence. It is not exclusively an IT tool, but it is based on IT infrastructure. It is a tool for everyone, in any company, and it is like having the internet, mobile devices, or the PC. AI is another addition to that list. Today, we will discuss two AI applications. These are called Microsoft Copilot. Microsoft created Copilot in partnership with OpenAI using ChatGPT as the Large Language Model that powers Microsoft Copilot and it relies on data. For Microsoft Copilot (Formerly Bing Chat Enterprise) for the web, you have Bing search as the back end. For Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365, you have your work data that you store in Microsoft 365 as backing for ChatGPT. You can use the Copilot chatbot to help you generate new text, new tables, new bullet lists, analyze data, predict data, and understand your data. This can help you be more productive at work, and also in your personal life. I use this in my everyday life too. The aim here today is to make you think of AI first, and use Copilot to help you accomplish more this week. The first way we will do that is by using Copilot instead of search or browse. You can try that now while we talk about prompting.

There are two ways to access Copilot, which is the version of Copilot that works on the web. The first one is personal, where you use your Microsoft account to sign in and it keeps a record of everything you have ever asked it. You don't want to use that for work, only for home. So we will skip that. Instead, let's focus on the one you would use for work. To use Microsoft Copilot for work on the web, open your edge browser and sign in with your work account. Then, in the top right corner of the screen, you will see the Copilot button. That will open a small Copilot app that you can use next to your browser window. You know that this is Copilot for work because it has a green shield and it tells you at the bottom that your personal and company data are protected. That means that nothing gets saved. Whatever you type into this box, it goes to Microsoft, comes back to you after talking to the AI, and then it's gone forever. It doesn't get saved in your browser history, it doesn't get saved at Microsoft, and it doesn't train the AI. So you can think of this as an anonymous way to search the internet with Microsoft Copilot or to get advice or tips or help with writing things for work. That's how you use Copilot for work on the web.

You also get your Copilot for Microsoft 365 in the same app, so you can switch between them easily by using the Copilot button in Edge. The other way to use Microsoft Copilot is if you have Windows 11. You can use the Copilot for Windows icon at the bottom. When you click that, it opens for your windows and lets you talk to your Windows computer, like changing your wallpaper and things like that. You can also search the internet with chat by using Copilot because it uses Bing as the back end. Because you are signed into your Windows machine with your work account, this is also protected. So anything you type into this box will be deleted. It won't be saved anywhere and it won't be used to train the AI at Microsoft. It's the same thing as using the Copilot button for the web in your browser. They all have, except for Windows, the option to switch between work and web. So you can get Copilot for Microsoft 365 or switch to the web and use Copilot for everyday things on the internet.

Now, let me show you some things about prompts engineering. I'm going to do side by side here. I know some of you may find this basic, but we have a mixed group and remember that if we roll this out to a company, there will be all kinds of employees, including people who don't know anything about AI and people who don't like change. So it's important that we go through this from the start for everyone.

It's important to understand how the AI model works. It's a brain that has learned everything and it remembers everything that has ever been published that it was trained on. You talk to the AI model by using text based “prompts”.? Now, let's look at the different parts of a prompt. There are instructions, main content, examples, cues, and supporting content. I will explain each of those so you can understand them and by the end of this, you will be good at making prompts. This is like when search came out. Companies gave their employees search and said, here you go, here's Google. But people didn't know how to search, so they just typed keywords. And if you just type keywords, you won't get much from AI. But if you give it clear instructions, like this one: Write a short product description for our new cloud-based collaboration tool. And let's see what it gives us.

So, the first thing to understand is that you can improve the quality of the completion by writing a better prompt. Here's an example of a more detailed instruction that asks for an appealing email to invite potential clients to an upcoming event, and then it gives some tone: express gratitude and support. This will give us a much better completion that we can then use for our email. So, that's the first part: understanding the instruction and being clear to the AI what we want. If we let the AI decide, it might get creative. That reminds me of this option at the top. If I can go to the top, there's usually a reset. Oh, here it is. New topic. This resets your conversation and starts over. So, now you can see I have a new set of 30 responses. What does that mean? One of 30 responses.

This is a good time to take a break and explain what these buttons mean. The first thing I want to mention is that when you join Copilot and you sign in with your work account, you get the protected version of Copilot. If you use a personal account like a Microsoft or a Hotmail account, you won't be protected. So, what does protected mean? You can click on it and find out, but in short, it means that what you type in your prompt and what you get back, your completion, are not stored anywhere at Microsoft or at OpenAI. They're just sent there to be processed and then sent back. Your browser then makes a temporary cache and then drops it. So, all the data that you ever write into Copilot for work is never saved. There's no chat history. There's no remembering what you said. Once you hit that write button, once you close the session, it doesn't remember yesterday. So, keep that in mind. Copilot is protected in that way. It's like an anonymizer. That's the best way to put it.

The second thing I want to point out is the conversation style. You can ask it to be more creative and fun , or you can ask it to be more precise in its answers. This is actually, whether you know it or not, helping with prompting. You're giving it an instruction to only give me relevant information that's based on facts. Whereas creative, I want to kind of brainstorm and get some ideas. So, make sure you use the settings based on what you're trying to do.

Lastly, down here, there are some buttons. I mentioned the new topic button, where you can start over. Here's the prompt window, where you can ask prompts. Copilot now lets you use a microphone. So, if you allow the microphone, you can ask your prompt by using your voice. That's pretty cool. And then you don't even have to type. So, that's neat. And then finally, right down here, is adding an image. So, if you have an image, it's talking... sorry, stop. You can add an image by uploading from your device or you can take a photo of something, like a brand that you don't recognize or something, and ask it to identify it. So, it's not very good at people. It always blurs the face for privacy reasons. But you can use it for identification, which I've used a few times, like what kind of car is that. So, those are the buttons.

Some tips for prompting are:

Use examples. This is especially useful when you want the AI to create something for you, like a headline or a topic. You can give it some examples of headlines and topics, and then ask it to generate a new one for you. For example, you can say: "Headline: The coach is confident the injury won't derail the Warriors. Topic: Basketball. Headline: The Dodgers win the World Series. Topic: Baseball. Headline: What's the topic?" And it should answer: "Soccer".

Use cues. This helps to guide the AI to the type of output you want. For example, if you want a summary of an email, you can add cues like: "Summarize the email in a sentence. Give me the key takeaway of the message." Or: "Summarize the email with bullet points."

Test your arrangements. This is the order and structure of your prompts. You can try different arrangements and see how they affect the output. For example, you can start with a general command, like: "Here's an email. Summarize it." Or you can start with a specific command, like: "Summarize the email with bullet points." You have 30 responses per session, and the AI remembers all of them. You can use this to refine your prompts and correct the AI if needed.

Give?the model an out. This means to avoid letting the AI make up things that are not true or reliable. You can do this by adding conditions to your prompts, such as: "Only give me an answer if you can verify it." Or: "Give me a search query that I can use to check this fact." Or: "Only give me answers that you can cite with a reference."

The next thing I'm going to show you is the work Edition (aka Copilot for Microsoft 365). The work Edition uses our data, so you all have access to this. You can use Copilot for Microsoft 365 to help you with your tasks. If you don't have access, let me know and we'll figure it out. One of the handy things you can do is ask it to summarize my day. It will check your calendar and email and tell you what you have planned for the day. It says okay I'll look at your day. And remember, this is the same chat that we use in Microsoft 365 and teams, so you can use it however you prefer.

So here, it tells me that I have this event, and I can click on it to see more details. This is a way to use this tool to search instead of looking for things manually. Another thing you can do is ask it what's the latest Word document I worked on. You can also open Word and go to recent, but I just wanted to show you that it can access our data. Let's see what it does.

It shows me the same document that I have open over here, and it gives me the link to the document, so I can open it in the browser or in the full app. I can also ask it to find my recent PowerPoints. Or I can use this sparkly button here. This is a guide to prompting. It gives you some suggestions on how to ask questions. For example, ask what are the open issues from, and then choose one of these meetings. It will read the transcript from that meeting and tell me what the issues are. Hopefully, it will work. I recommend that you start with the prompt guide to learn how the system works.

There’s a crucial point that I should have mentioned at the start and kept emphasizing. I'm only seeing things with Copilot that I have permission to see. So I'm seeing this because I was invited to this meeting or I'm seeing references to documents because they were in my one drive or shared with me or they're in a team that I belong to. But this is relevant work stuff, like open issues from the sales team. Tell me more about the upsell opportunities for Flex Evan. I mean, just play around with the chat for a bit and you'll get hooked, like YouTube.

You can even attach a file. So if you hit attach and then maybe you say here, create a new Gavin and I were trying to do this, create a new document based on the attached but make the topic something cool like Tesla electric batteries. Let's?see what it does with that.

So we're still in the experimental phase, where you should test the prompts and see if you can get it to replace search. Hey, look at that. Based on the document, I've created a new document about Tesla electric batteries. So now you can download that or copy that or have it read to you and put it into an empty Word document. That's funny.

All right, I'm going to stop there. I want to say that this is the first of six that I want to do. And the goal of today was to give you a general overview of AI, tell you about the two tools that you have access to, give you an introduction to prompt engineering, and then try to get you to replace search with Copilot.

Well, I wanted to thank you for watching this first part of our series Mastering Microsoft. We will continue with this series to add more videos covering more AI topics with tips and tricks and demonstrations. If you liked what you saw, please hit the like button or share with someone. And to get notified when we post our next video, hit the subscribe button. Thanks again for watching. Cheers.

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