Microsoft released Copilot to Microsoft 365 users, and Windows users, as well, later in 2023. Around the same time, the AI model could be accessed independently on any browser via copilot.microsoft.com.

Around the same time, Microsoft teased and later introduced plugins to the AI model, allowing users to greatly expand its capabilities through Microsoft-approved third-party plugins. Firstly. the Redmond-based tech giant released them to Copilot within Microsoft Edge.

Then, Windows enthusiasts discovered that plugins would come to Copilot in Windows, as well.

Now, according to the latest entry in the Microsoft 365 Roadmap, Copilot via copilot.microsoft.com is set to be enhanced with plugins of choice, as well, although later this year, in December 2024.

Users can now use plugins via copilot.microsoft.com to expand Copilot skills.

Microsoft

Microsoft allows for many useful plugins to be added to Copilot, including Kayak, Shopify, and OpenTable. Each plugin enables additional settings: for instance, OpenTable allows Copilot to show you restaurants near you, and plugins such as Kayak will prompt the AI model to come to you with flight or rental recommendations suited to your budget.

This could be quite useful when you need an effective guide when traveling for example. Let’s say you don’t want to install another app on your mobile phone, or you don’t have enough data to download Copilot as an app.

You can access it via copilot.microsoft.com, enable the plugins, and use them to find out about local restaurants, rental companies, and so on.

So, it’s like a more advanced Google, but it actually listens to your natural language input and it comes up with answers in a few seconds.

Since this Copilot is on the Web, it can be available on virtually any device connected to the Internet. It can be your mobile phone, laptop, or tablet.

What do you say? Would you use Copilot on your trips?

AI has become a tech industry trend for over 2 years now, with tech companies placing all the bets on it, and using it as an essential part of modern computing. However, after bad actors started to see in AI a new way to conduct disastrous cyber attacks, the enthusiasm has also started to slow down.

Earlier this year, Microsoft in a partnership with OpenAI, the company behind the world’s most popular AI model, released a report chronicling and explaining how bad actors from Russia, Iran, China, or North Korea used AI to initiate various cyber attacks.

Suddenly AI wasn’t seen as an enthusiasm, but as a threat, as well. And Microsoft, it seems, might finally admit that AI could become a serious security risk to organizations if left unchecked.

The Redmond-based tech giant is updating Microsoft Purview, its corporate-oriented platform for IT admins, managers, and security experts, to recognize, and deal with possible risky AI usage.

According to the latest entry to the Microsoft 365 Roadmap, the new update will be previewed in July 2024, with a general availability scheduled for September 2024.

So, what exactly is risky AI usage, according to Microsoft? Well, the Redmond-based tech giant says that any intentional or unintentional risk activity on generative AI apps an organization uses can pose a risk to that organization, so it will automatically be labeled as risky AI usage.

These intentional or unintentional risk activities are varied: from prompts containing sensitive info or risky intent and sensitive responses containing sensitive info to using AI to generate data from sensitive files or sites.

Microsoft Purview will be updated to cover risky AI usage from Microsoft Copilots, to 3P generative AI apps, and it will automatically detect AI-based cyber attacks that end up in IP theft, data leakage, and security violations. The platform will also allow customers to create their own policies to combat risky AI usage according to specific characteristics of their organization.

With this update, Insider risk management will help admins identify risky AI usage. We are adding new detections of intentional and unintentional insider risk activity on generative AI apps that can pose a risk to an organization. Activities will include risky prompts containing sensitive info or risky intent and sensitive responses containing sensitive info or is generated from sensitive files or sites. Coverage will span across Microsoft Copilots and 3P generative AI apps. These detections will also contribute to Adaptive Protection insider risk levels. Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management correlates various signals to identify potential malicious or inadvertent insider risks, such as IP theft, data leakage, and security violations. Insider Risk Management enables customers to create policies based on their own internal policies, governance, and organizational requirements. Built with privacy by design, users are pseudonymized by default, and role-based access controls and audit logs are in place to help ensure user-level privacy.

Microsoft

Purview will also be updated to ease multiple processes: for instance, the platform will make it easier to implement onboarding processes that deal with setting up new devices to the organization’s network.

The platform will also get a new unified experience that offers access to all solutions in one single place. The new portal will allow IT admins, managers, and cybersecurity experts to access data security, data governance, and risk and compliance solutions for all data, no matter where this data is located. They can also access other settings, such as global search, recommendations, and roles and permissions management, everything in a single portal.

Microsoft Purview will have all the tools to deal with the looming threat of AI-based cyber attacks, but it might be time for the industry tech to admit the obvious: AI is also extremely dangerous.

Cognizant is purchasing over 25,000 Microsoft 365 Copilot seats for its associates, about 500 Sales Copilot seats, and 500 Services Copilot seats to enhance overall productivity and streamline workflows, according to a new announcement made by the Redmond-based tech giant.

Aside from this, the companies will work together to deploy Microsoft 365 Copilot to a million users within their global 2000 clients and across 11 industries, says the announcement.

Cognizant has already trained 35,000 developers on GitHub Copilot, and 40,000 more are currently under training, so the company is no stranger to AI technologies.

The partnership will also see Cognizant providing $1 billion to the advancements of AI tech over the next three years.

Generative AI can be a game-changer for virtually every business in every industry, opening up new possibilities for innovation, efficiency and growth. That’s why we are investing $1 billion in generative AI over the next three years and leading the development of new research to explore its potential for our clients, their employees and end customers. We’re committed to helping them harness the power of generative AI at scale, and Microsoft Copilot is a proven tool that can bring transformative gains, unlocking talent and potential in ways we can only imagine.

Cognizant

The AI partnership between Microsoft and Cognizant started a few months ago when the two companies announced the new Advanced AI Lab, a place designed to create, test, and release new Generative AI to the market.

With the new announcement, however, is clear that the companies want to impose a trend on the market: motivating the corporate world to adopt AI. While Artificial Intelligence has been around for a while, it’s not exactly following a clear road to mass adoption.

According to our most recent survey, only 10% of users who have access to Copilot, actually use it for professional tasks. To encourage them to give it a try, the Redmond-based tech giant will introduce the Copilot Adoption Community in the Microsoft 365 productivity platform, which gives employees all the necessary tools to learn how to use AI.

However, the partnership between Cognizant and Microsoft might encourage other companies to do the same: after all, Cognizant is training its employees to learn how to use AI, and it could set a standard in the industry.

We’ll have to wait and see. But what’s your opinion on this? Should employees use AI at work?