Feel the Fear and Hop on your First Flight with Copilot!

Have you used Artificial Intelligence (AI) before? If your initial answer is no, I’m pretty sure you may actually use it on a daily basis without realising. We are all immersed in AI powered technology as we go about our day to day lives.

If you are just here for some light hearted entertainment scroll straight to the bottom of this post!

Let’s peel back the curtain and reveal some everyday instances where AI-powered technology may be quietly working its magic in your life.

1. Travel and Navigation

Do you use apps like Google Maps or have you called an Uber on your phone? That’s AI at play. It’s the AI which interprets the data: traffic, timings and road conditions to guide you efficiently from A to B.

2. Smartphone Apps

Your trusty mobile phone? Packed with AI goodness. Think of Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant – they act like digital sidekicks. AI technology can assist to manage your battery, produce the in app suggestions that pop up, and assist with camera features, such as, portrait mode in the camera.

3. Social Media Feeds

Scroll through Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, and guess what? AI is pulling the strings. The technology curates your feed based on your interests, profile history, and social media imprint. Those memes or cat videos? Courtesy of AI.

4. Advertisements

Ever notice eerily relevant ads? That’s AI analysing your online behaviour, predicting what you might fancy. It’s like having a psychic ad guru whispering in the marketers’ ears.

5. Smart Cars

Self-driving cars? Yep, AI is chauffeuring these drivers around. Plus, where smart traffic systems are in use they can help to optimise traffic flow.

6. Music and Video Streaming

Spotify, Netflix, YouTube – they’re all in cahoots with AI. Recommendations? Tailored playlists? That’s the AI DJ spinning tunes and suggesting shows.

7. Smart Home

Alexa, turn on the lights! Smart home assistants like Amazon Echo and Google Home use AI to make your abode cozier. They’re like digital house elves, minus the tea cozies.

8. Keyboard on Mobile Devices – Smart Input

Ever notice your phone predicting your next word? Yep, AI is analysing your typing patterns. It’s like having a psychic typist who knows exactly what you’re thinking. Plus, it learns from your typing patterns, and I guess it is still learning towards reducing those instances of mis-autocorrect.

9. Banking Services

AI can crunch numbers faster than a caffeine-fuelled accountant. It can detect fraud, predict stock market trends, and in many cases approve your credit card transactions.

Where is AI in terms of the day to day tools we use as educators? For the purposes of this post, I’m going to take a quick look inside Microsoft 365, we’re talking Mr. Clippy 4.0.

1. Microsoft Editor

Your trusty writing companion, is like having an AI-savvy editor by your side. It offers several AI features:

• Tone Suggestion: Ever sent an email that sounded unintentionally harsh? Fear not! AI suggests friendlier phrasing for emails, chats, and documents.
• Clarity and Conciseness: Hate wordy sentences? So does AI! It identifies long-winded phrases and recommends concise alternatives.
• Spelling and Grammar, it’s got you covered too.

2. Microsoft Stream:

The Stream video platform uses AI to automatically transcribe and caption videos.

3. Immersive Reader

An AI-powered reading companion available across M365 applications and other digital tools to improve reading comprehension and accessibility of content.

• Isolation for Improved Readability:

Immersive Reader isolates content to enhance readability. It’s like creating a cozy reading nook where distractions fade away.

• Visual Aids for Common Words:

For commonly used terms, Immersive Reader displays pictures. It’s like having visual cues for tricky words—think of it as a digital picture dictionary.

• Parts of Speech Highlighting:

Immersive Reader helps learners understand grammar by highlighting verbs, nouns, pronouns, and more. It’s like having a grammar tutor who points out the building blocks of sentences.

• Text-to-Speech (Speech Synthesis):

Immersive Reader reads content aloud. It’s like having a friendly narrator who brings text to life. Readers can select text to be read aloud, making it more accessible.

• Real-Time Translation:

Immersive Reader can translate text into many languages on the fly. Imagine reading content in your preferred language, even if the original text is different. It’s like having a multilingual companion.

• Syllable Splitting:

You can break words into syllables with Immersive Reader. It improves readability and helps learners sound out new words. Think of it as a syllable coach for language learners.

4. Reading Coach:

Reading Coach, now powered by generative AI, transforms reading experiences. It provides personalised reading practice, instant feedback on pronunciation and fluency, and dynamically adapts stories to individual reading levels and challenges. It’s like having a virtual reading tutor that motivates students

   – Imagine watching a presentation with captions – AI makes it happen.

5. Microsoft Researcher:

   – When you’re knee-deep in research, Microsoft Researcher surfaces relevant sources across various workloads. It’s like having a scholarly AI assistant who never spills coffee on your notes.

6. Microsoft Graph:

   – This AI-powered recommendation engine pops up in Office, Teams, SharePoint, and Stream. It’s like a helpful librarian suggesting related content. “Psst, check out this document!”.

7. Microsoft Copilot:

Copilot, the AI assistant, from Microsoft is here to reinvent how we work. It’s like having a digital sidekick linked to Microsoft 365. Copilot can assist with so many tasks, whether you’re writing, designing, or just trying to adult.

Here is a link to take your first flight with Microsoft’s Copilot.

Have we got any fans of the hit show, The Office, here? If you’ve read this far, and are still with me; thank you! In return, to brighten up a Thursday in February and just for fun. I prompted Copilot to ‘describe GenAI in the voice of Dwight Schrute from The Office. Full disclosure here, the idea was nicked from April Dunnam, Power Platform Advocate at Microsoft.

“Dwight Schrute here, your resident beet farmer and Assistant to the Regional Manager. Let me break it down for you, because I’ve got the intellectual horsepower of a Clydesdale pulling a plow.

Generative AI, my friends, is like the Schroedinger’s cat of computer science. It’s both there and not there, existing in a quantum state of creativity. Picture this: you feed it [GenAI] a bunch of data—text, images, whatever. And what does it do? It digests that information like a python swallowing a rat, and then it poops out something new. Yes, you heard me right—AI poop. But it’s not just any poop; it’s creative poop.

Now, let’s get into specifics. Generative AI can whip up all sorts of stuff. You give it a prompt, and it responds like a trained monkey—except this monkey has a PhD in imagination. It can write stories, compose music, and even paint pictures. It’s like having a robotic Shakespeare in your pocket, ready to spout sonnets on demand.

But wait, there’s more! Generative AI isn’t just for artsy-fartsy nonsense. It’s got practical applications too. Imagine you’re a salesperson trying to close a deal. You toss a prompt at your AI buddy, and it spits out a persuasive pitch that’ll make your customer’s head spin faster than a tornado of bees. Or maybe you’re a doctor, and you need a diagnosis. Boom! Generative AI analyses symptoms faster than you can say “stethoscope.”

Now, let’s address the elephant in the room: deepfakes. Yeah, generative AI can create those too. It’s like giving a toddler a pair of scissors and saying, “Go ahead, kid, trim your own bangs.” Sometimes it turns out great; other times, you end up with a Picasso-esque disaster on your forehead.

So, in summary, generative AI is like having a virtual Swiss Army knife. It’s versatile, occasionally dangerous, and definitely not dishwasher-safe. And remember, folks, when the robots rise, they’ll be armed with generative AI. So keep your wits about you, and never trust a toaster that can write poetry. Over and out.”

-	GenAI Output Microsoft Copilot