Microsoft 365 is looking to make it easier than ever to write smart and more accurate AI prompts with its latest Copilot update.
The company has revealed new Copilot for Microsoft 365 tools aimed at helping users start and craft better prompts when talking to AI tools.
Going forward, Copilot can now offer to auto-complete a prompt started by the user in order to get to a better result, with the ability to suggest something more detailed to help ensure users get the answer they need.
Copilot prompt boosts
"We hear one consistent piece of feedback from our customers: talking to AI is harder than it seems," Jared Spataro, Microsoft CVP, AI at Work wrote in a blog post announcing the news that called the prompt box "the new blank page".
"We’ve all learned how to use a search engine, identifying the right few words to get the best results. AI requires more context — just like when you delegate work to a direct report or colleague. But for many, staring down that empty prompt box feels like facing a blank page: Where should I even start?"
The tool will also help when users do in fact know what they want to ask, but aren't sure how to ask it, with a new rewrite feature allowing Copilot to transform, "a basic prompt into a rich one with the click of a button, turning everyone into a prompt engineer."
Users will also be able to create, publish and manage prompts in Copilot Lab, sharing specialized or unique offerings for specific tasks with their teams and co-workers.
Finally, there's a new chat interface that can analyze your recent activity to provide personalized insights. The "Catch Up" feature will be able to offer up briefing notes or prep insights ahead of a big meeting, or remind you of appointments, backed up with information gleaned from your own work.
Microsoft says the new features will be available "in the coming months" and are just the next step in a series of advances aimed at making Copilot smarter and more intuitive for users everywhere.
The news was announced alongside Microsoft and LinkedIn's Work Trend Index, which surveyed over 31,000 employees across the world to discover the latest trends and habits. Unsurprisingly, AI topped the agenda, with three quarters (75%) of respondents are now using AI at work in some way, claiming that the technology helps not only boost their creativity, but helps save and free up time to focus on crucial tasks.
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