Christmas is fast approaching, I haven’t started the present shopping and there isn’t any let up in workload. I’m sure many of you can relate to this. With lots of demands to juggle, managing to get some headspace isn’t always easy. I love to use new technology so I jumped at the chance to try AI and find out what all the fuss was about. I’ve been amazed at how these tools help cut down the time it would normally take to write reports, make sense of documents or simply find the right words when required.
We all have access to Copilot Chat as part of the Microsoft 365 suite of tools. You can access this on your 365 homepage. Think of it like a digital assistant and one who can provide solutions, ideas, and advice on where to start. This is a limited version just now as ICT explore the benefits a full version could bring to the council.
For me, I’m using Copilot daily for a number of reasons. It’s great if you need to research an area of expertise or want to know more about an organisation or people.
Have you ever found that you just can’t get your point across? Well it’s great for editing correspondence and matching the tone and style to different audiences. You’d be surprised how impactful some subtle changes can be.
I’m on the move a lot travelling around Argyll and Bute and further afield. On recent trips I’ve been experimenting with the voice activation tool within Copilot. It’s really useful for planning my work, I can use it hands free and create tasks for the week ahead without having to stop and type.
I think you’ll all agree that we generate a lot of documents in the council. Again, Copilot is designed to save time by summarising reports and presenting you with the main points. You can also compare documents which is handy when there are different versions.
And finally, if you need to create a presentation, Copilot can steer you in the right direction if you let it know what you want to cover. I find this particularly useful as a starting point.
If you haven’t tried it, I would encourage you to have a look and try it out. While Copilot keeps our data safe, not all AI tools available on the Internet do so it’s worth reminding yourself about the guidance in the AI Policy.
Although this is stating the obvious, remember Copilot isn’t a human. It’s good but be mindful that it doesn’t always get things right so it’s important to double check everything before you share more widely.
Look out for an article in next week’s Cascade for more information along with new Copilot guidance.
Have a lovely weekend.
Pippa
