Use AI with confidence
AI can help you create content, analyze information, generate ideas, and support decision-making. As you learned throughout this module, tools such as Microsoft Copilot can help people complete many workplace tasks more efficiently.
Using AI with confidence doesn't mean avoiding AI. It means knowing when to use AI, when to review its work, and when to apply your own expertise.
The most effective use of AI combines the strengths of both AI and people. AI can quickly process and organize information, while people provide context, expertise, and judgment.
AI works best with human expertise
AI can help create summaries, reports, presentations, recommendations, and other business content. It can also help analyze information and identify patterns that might otherwise be overlooked.
Like any draft or recommendation, AI-generated content should be reviewed before it's shared or used to make decisions.
People play an important role in:
- Evaluating recommendations
- Considering business context
- Applying professional judgment
- Making decisions
- Taking action
Tip
Think of AI-generated content as a starting point, not a finished product. Your expertise and judgment help turn a useful draft into a final result.
Protect sensitive information
When working with AI, it's important to follow your organization's policies and requirements for handling information.
Depending on your organization, this might include:
- Customer information
- Financial data
- Personal information
- Confidential business information
- Intellectual property
Note
Microsoft Copilot is grounded in your work data and respects the permissions set by your organization. It can only access content that you already have permission to view and can't retrieve information that has been restricted to others.
Understanding which AI tools are approved for business use and how they handle data can help you work more securely.
Responsible AI at Microsoft
Microsoft is committed to developing AI systems that are trustworthy, secure, and designed to support people. To help guide the development and use of AI, Microsoft follows six Responsible AI principles:
- Fairness
- Reliability and safety
- Privacy and security
- Inclusiveness
- Transparency
- Accountability
To learn more, review Microsoft Responsible AI.
Put responsible AI into practice
When working with AI, you can use the following framework: Ask, review, verify, decide, and act.
This simple framework can help you use AI effectively while maintaining appropriate human oversight.
Tip
The most effective use of AI combines the speed and scale of AI with human expertise, judgment, and accountability.
Scenario: Review AI-generated content
Earlier, Jo used the Researcher agent to gather information and create a draft presentation for an executive review of the Contoso website redesign project.
The draft gives Jo a strong starting point, but it isn't ready to share yet. Before sending it to leadership, she reviews the AI-generated content to make sure it reflects the latest information, supports informed decision-making, and is appropriate for the executive audience.
By taking a few moments to review and refine the draft, Jo can use AI with confidence while maintaining appropriate human oversight.
Review the draft 🔎
Jo opens the draft presentation and reviews the project status, risks, recommendations, and next steps.
She checks that the information is accurate, current, and aligned with the purpose of the executive review.
Refine the content ✏️
While reviewing the draft, Jo notices that a recent customer update isn't reflected in the presentation. She verifies the latest information, updates the relevant slide, and adds context that will help the executive team make informed decisions.
Share the final version ✅
After reviewing and refining the presentation, Jo shares the completed version with the executive team.
The final version combines the AI's ability to organize information with Jo's expertise, judgment, and understanding of the project.
Tip
AI can help create a strong first draft, but people play an important role in reviewing information, applying professional judgment, and making decisions based on the results.
Why it matters
The most effective use of AI combines the strengths of both AI and people. AI can help generate ideas, organize information, and create drafts, while people provide context, expertise, and judgment.
As you observed in Jo's example, reviewing and refining AI-generated content helps ensure the final result is accurate, relevant, and appropriate for the situation. Working effectively with AI means combining its capabilities with your own knowledge and experience.
Next, practice using AI to create content, analyze information, and generate ideas.
Note
We recognize that different people like to learn in different ways. You can choose to complete this module in video-based format or you can read the content as text and images. The text contains greater detail than the videos, so in some cases you might want to refer to it as supplemental material to the video presentation.