Copilot might conclude you haven't done your job well enough, according to Microsoft's latest patent

Can you imagine your boss reading an AI-generated review of your job performance, only to find that you might have not done your job well enough?

Well, if it sounds like a Black Mirror episode, then hold your horses, because the Redmond-based tech giant recently published a patent describing a technology that would intelligently identify a user’s relationship with a document.

The patent, which can be read in its entirety here, involves a technology that wants to understand what a user does with a document using an application.

The AI-powered technology collects data about the user’s activities on the document over a certain time. It then looks at this data to figure out what kind of activity the user is doing on the document. After that, it sends a signal that includes this information to a device where it’s stored with the document.

The technology’s main goal is to determine which individual contributed most to a document, especially shared documents in applications such as OneDrive, but it’s not limited to it. The inventors behind the technology claim that it would address the current limitations of not being able to compare activities made on a shared document.

Currently, a signal indicating creation and/or editing actions performed on the document may be stored with the documents, but this signal provides very limited information about the edits made to the document. It does not provide any information about the user’s relationship with the document, as it does not differentiate between a user that makes minor edits and one who contributes extensively to the content.

Since the technology is AI-based, it can be integrated into Copilot for platforms such as Microsoft 365, but it could backfire, especially when talking about employees’ activity. Why? Well, with this technology, Copilot in Microsoft 365 would be able to not only track their activity but also report on it, as well.

We’re talking about an AI tool that can track the time spent on your work but also analyze the quality of the work that you did based on certain parameters that can be customized to each situation.

Ultimately, it can generate a report of the activity for later use.

Is this useful? Well, yes, it is. It can easily streamline workflows, and emphasize productivity. It can used together with Microsoft 365, a productivity platform (its mobile app recently announced a new Create section), so that companies can reach their goals faster.

However, it could become a kind of dystopian situation, to say the least: your manager might use this technology to keep a closer eye on the performance of their employees.

Can you see yourself being fired at the hand of Copilot? Well, it could happen, but it’s worth mentioning that, for now, this technology is only at a patent level, so it might take a while until it gets integrated with existing tools.

But Microsoft is clearly thinking about it.