This article only discusses AI in the context of Microsoft Copilot and not other AI services such as Microsoft 365 Copilot.
What's included in this article?
What is Copilot Chat?
Copilot Chat is a general purpose AI companion within the Microsoft 365 platform that is available to faculty, staff, and students.
Unlike public general purpose AI companions (such as ChatGPT, Bard...etc), Copilot Chat includes enterprise data protection to ensure that any questions you ask or data you work with remains with the university and isn't used elsewhere.
With Copilot Chat:
- Your chat data is encrypted during your conversations and isn't viewable by Microsoft or anyone else.
- The model Copilot Chat uses will not retain any data about your conversation at the end of your session. Your conversations remain secure in the SFU Microsoft 365 space.
- Your chat data isn't used to further train the underlying large language model as it would be with public AI companions.
- Your SFU user profile is used to sign-in but will be anonymous during your session.
For more information about the privacy and protections available to the enterprise version of Microsoft Copilot see: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/copilot/privacy-and-protections
How do I access Microsoft Copilot?
You can access Copilot Chat by signing in to your SFU Microsoft 365 work/school account at microsoft365.com/chat.
Sign in to Copilot Chat
After signing in to Copilot Chat, you'll see a confirmation that your chat conversations are protected by a shield icon at the top right. This ensures your conversations remain protected and are not shared outside the boundary of SFU. Hovering over the shield icon will also provide a link to more information.
How do I get started using Copilot Chat?
As with any new technology, how you interface with it will influence what you get out of it. While an AI companion is designed to be conversational you can design and frame your questions to draw out better responses. How you craft your conversation with an AI companion to draw out responses is referred to as prompting.
Great starter prompts for Copilot will typically include 4 elements.
- Your goal (i.e., what you want Copilot to accomplish)
- Your context (i.e., extra details that will help Copilot understand your question)
- Your expectations (i.e., how you'd like Copilot to respond)
- Your sources (i.e., additional files/content that Copilot can refer to when parsing your request)
For example:
"I want a list of 3-5 bullet points to prepare me for an upcoming meeting with /JaneDoe, focusing on their current state and what they're looking to achieve. Respond with a tone that is friendly but authoritative and focus on email and Teams chats with /JaneDoe over the last two weeks".
(Source: support.microsoft.com)
Prompts are meant to be iterative
It's also important to remember that prompts are iterative. If you don't get the results you expected on your first prompt, try rephrasing, adding more detail, or building on the results in your next one. While asking similar questions to a human over and over may be frustrating, an AI companion doesn't mind it.
For example:
Prompt #1: "Draft a post about my /SummerEvents.doc."
Prompt #2: "Draft a social media post about my /SummerEvents.doc. The social media post should be under 280 characters long. The audience is for students at Simon Fraser University and should highlight important upcoming dates for events in the document. The tone should be positive, concise, and friendly."
Copilot Chat responds better with positive instructions
Copilot Chat is task oriented. When providing it with instructions it's better to tell it what "to do", rather than telling it what "not to do". For example, construct your prompts with a list of items that Copilot Chat should complete as it generates a response for you, rather than a list of items it shouldn't.
Structure matters
The order of information in your prompts will matter. Details you include at the end of your prompt will weigh more than those in beginning, so try rearranging the order of details to get the response you need.
For example:
Prompt #1 [instruction -> context] : "Draft an message in a festive tone thanking staff for all the great work they did this year and remind them not to work while we are closed. Our department of XYZ will be closed this year from December 24, 2024 to January 1, 2025. December 25, 2024 is also a general holiday at the university."
Prompt #2 [context -> instruction]: "Our department of XYZ will be closed this year from December 24, 2024 to January 1, 2025. December 25, 2024 is also a general holiday at the university. Draft a message in a festive tone thanking staff for all the great work they did this year and remind them not to work while we are closed."
More Resources
For more information on getting great responses out of Microsoft 365, also explore: Get better results with Copilot prompting - Microsoft Support
What should I know while using Copilot?
Generative AI is designed to be conversational but can make mistakes and provide convincing false answers (known as hallucinations). As you use and interact with an AI assistant you should always verify statements or responses that are provided.
To help guide your use of Copilot, the SFU Privacy Office has provided the following statement.
Advisory Notice from the SFU Privacy Office
In using this service you agree to refrain from uploading, submitting, or providing access to, documents containing personal or confidential information to the Bing AI platform that may contain:
- Personal Information: Such as names, addresses, phone numbers, personal email addresses, social security numbers, etc.
- Confidential or Sensitive Content: Including proprietary business information, financial details, legal documents, or any other information intended to be kept private.
Should you have any inquiries or concerns regarding the appropriate use of the Copilot platform at SFU, please contact SFU IT services.