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AI for Small Businesses: The Basics of Microsoft Copilot AI
No matter where you turn today, someone is talking about AI. The media makes it sound as if it is the next big thing – and it is. AI has great potential to save time and improve business efficiencies. However, as with any new technology, there’s a learning curve. AI, in particular, has some pitfalls that you should be aware of to protect your company’s information and intellectual property. They aren’t readily apparent to the casual user. But knowing about these pitfalls and successfully navigating around them can open up the potential of AI to be a help to your business.
How AI Models Work
AI, or artificial intelligence, is a complex sequence of computer algorithms that learns from large datasets and can extrapolate information from data sources. Every AI model, whether it’s China’s Deep Seek or Microsoft’s Co-Pilot, needs to be trained on enormous quantities of data.
AI learns through machine learning, which involves training a model on large amounts of data to make predictions or decisions without being explicitly programmed to perform the task. AI systems require vast amounts of data to learn from. This data can include text, images, audio, video, and more. The data is usually labeled, meaning that it includes input-output pairs that the model can learn from.
The AI model is trained using the prepared data. During training, the model learns to recognize patterns and relationships in the data by adjusting its internal parameters. Continuous feedback on the model’s outputs helps it refine and improve its answers. This allows them to adapt to changing conditions and improve their performance.
Microsoft Copilot: AI Built Into Microsoft Products
Microsoft Copilot is an AI-powered assistant designed to enhance productivity and streamline tasks across various Microsoft applications. Initially launched in 2023 as a replacement for Cortana, it has since expanded to integrate with Microsoft 365, Windows 11, and other Microsoft services. Powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4 models, Copilot can perform various tasks, such as summarizing documents, generating meeting agendas, translating text, and even creating images.
Copilot is available in free and premium versions, with the latter offering priority access to the latest features. Users can interact with Copilot through natural language, making it easy to use and highly accessible.
Using Copilot Safely in the Workplace
There’s an old saying that “nothing is free on the internet,” and that saying is very accurate with Microsoft Copilot. Yes, the ‘free’ version can be accessed by anyone using the Microsoft Edge browser, and no, you don’t need to enter a credit card number to pay for the service. But you are paying for the service by entering data into Copilot and effectively adding to its knowledge by giving it free training data.
Think about it. Every time you copy and paste a document into Copilot, enter a query, and give feedback about its answers, you are participating in the training and improvement of the AI Model.
Now, why is that a big deal for business users? It’s simple: whatever you enter into Copilot, Chat GPT, Grok, DeepSeek, or Gemini, it becomes part of its enormous data repository.
Safeguard Your Company’s Intellectual Property
It’s hard to imagine that something uploaded from your computer could become part of a gigantic worldwide database, but that is precisely what happens when you enter information into Copilot or any other AI platform. Consider carefully what you enter into its chatbot – once entered, it cannot be eliminated.
Imagine the following scenario: a company offering a unique medical test accidentally exposes proprietary data via a free AI session. They were working on a proposal, and an employee thought to use AI to help rewrite a section of the proposal about how the test was developed. They uploaded the section into Copilot and asked for the rewrite. However, when anyone enters the medical test name into the AI Engine, the company’s proprietary method of developing the test is now exposed to anyone searching for it! Because they uploaded the data and are the only source of information about this test, the AI platform shares the information with anyone looking for it. The company has accidentally exposed proprietary information to its competitors.
Consider all the intellectual property and proprietary information your company may have on file that should be protected. Do not enter any of this into an AI platform:
- Trade Secrets: Confidential business information that provides a competitive edge, such as manufacturing processes, formulas, and strategies.
- Proprietary Algorithms: Any unique algorithms or software code that are central to the company’s products or services.
- Financial Data: Sensitive financial information, including profit and loss statements, balance sheets, and investment strategies.
- Customer Data: Personal information about customers, such as names, addresses, payment details, and purchase history.
- Employee Data: Personal information about employees, including Social Security numbers, addresses, and salary details.
- Product Designs: Detailed designs, blueprints, and schematics of products that are not yet patented or publicly released.
- Legal Documents: Confidential legal agreements, contracts, and intellectual property filings.
- Marketing Plans: Detailed marketing strategies, ad campaign plans, and market research data.
- Research and Development (R&D) Information: Proprietary research, experimental data, and development plans for new products or technologies.
- Strategic Plans: Business strategies, expansion plans, and competitive analysis that are not meant for public disclosure.
Information currently available on a company’s website or on the internet itself is fair game for an AI model. However, when using AI, be aware that information available online can be incorrect, outdated, or speculative. AI cannot distinguish among these problematic sources of data and has been known to reproduce fictitious examples as if they are real, for example. That’s why a person should always review AI-generated text and check all sources. Otherwise, you may take an AI ‘hallucination’ as fact.
Safeguard Company Data with Paid AI Platform Subscriptions
As noted above, the free AI model isn’t really free – it uses your data and feedback to improve the model. You’re paying with information and receiving information in kind.
Your information is kept private and secure when you pay for a Copilot subscription. Microsoft 365 Copilot adheres to strict privacy, security, and compliance commitments, including compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the European Union (EU) Data Boundary.
And, unlike free AI, which searches only publicly available information to provide answers, a paid Copilot subscription can access your company’s SharePoint documents. It can review company files (if they are set up with the appropriate permissions) and provide answers specific to your company.
Your proprietary organizational data, such as emails, chats, documents, and other content accessed through Microsoft Graph, is not used to train the foundational AI models. This ensures that your data remains confidential and is only used to provide personalized assistance within your organization.
Recommendations for Appropriate Business AI Use
Given the ease and prevalence of AI, it’s not a question of if your employees will use it but when. And when they do, will they use it appropriately or inadvertently expose trade secrets?
We recommend the following steps to help your company use AI appropriately:
Ensuring the appropriate use of AI in business involves several crucial steps:
Establish Clear Objectives
Define the specific goals and objectives for using AI in your business. Ensure that these objectives align with your overall business strategy and values.
Choose Paid AI Tools
If you are going to use AI, choose a paid subscription to Microsoft Copilot to unlock the enterprise data protection features. This provides better service and data safeguards and will not upload your data to the public AI Engine.
Develop an AI Governance Framework
Create policies and guidelines for AI use, including ethical considerations, data privacy, security, and compliance. Establish a governance framework to oversee AI initiatives and ensure accountability.
Ensure Data Quality
Ensure that the data used for AI models is high quality, accurate, and representative. Multiple versions of the same document are going to be problematic unless proper versing control has been utilized.
Privacy
Implement strong data privacy measures to protect sensitive information and comply with internal or external regulations. The AI will have access to everything you do. Security needs to be reviewed.
Conduct an AI Readiness Audit
To ensure your Copilot deployment is seamless and aligns with data governance policies, we suggest an AI Readiness Audit or Assessment. The Assessment examines your readiness for Microsoft Copilot under four main categories:
- User Information
- Organizational Profile
- Productivity Tools
- Data Security
The AI Readiness Audit assesses how well your Copilot deployment:
- Manages data access and how well the data accessed is used and generated by Microsoft Copilot
- Identifies gaps, compatibility issues, and vulnerabilities in your Copilot deployment
It also includes a review of the entire Copilot Readiness Assessment.
Such an assessment is invaluable and provides the right facts and insights to help you take action and use Copilot confidently and safely in your organization. Contact us to schedule an AI Readiness Assessment.
Invest in Training and Education
Provide training and education for employees on AI technologies. This should include your corporate policy and acceptable use of AI within the organization.
We hope this introduction to AI for small businesses helps you use this new platform for efficiency and growth. At a COUPLE of GURUs, we can provide an AI readiness audits and guidance on AI adoption and set up your Microsoft platform to successfully use a Copilot subscription.