This post summarizes the September 2024 Explore Generative AI tools: Microsoft Copilot and Zoom AI Companion session facilitated by ATSS. During the session, ATSS consultants presented an overview of the two AI tools, Microsoft Copilot and Zoom AI Companion - available to all UMN faculty, staff, and students - and explored use cases.
Key Takeaways
Our session goals were to:
- Understand the basics of Microsoft Copilot and Zoom AI Companion
- Explore how both platforms can be used in education through examples and use cases
Zoom AI Companion
What is Zoom AI Companion?
Zoom AI Companion is a University-vetted opt-in suite of AI tools that enhance the in-meeting and post-meeting experiences. Meeting hosts (i.e., instructors) can generate:
How is it used?
By default, the Zoom AI Companion is set to OFF; users can change their Zoom settings to opt in. AI Companion works best if you are logged into your UMN Zoom account; it does poorly if you are not logged in, especially with the accuracy of names and pronouns.
Teaching and Learning Examples
This feature provides AI-generated answers to in-meeting user questions about meeting content. Once the AI Companion has been enabled in the meeting host’s Zoom settings, meeting participants can ask questions such as “Was my name mentioned?” or “Catch me up on the discussion so far.” Output should be reviewed for accuracy.
With this feature, instructors who are meeting hosts can use Zoom AI Companion to generate summaries of their Zoom meetings. These summaries could benefit students who may have missed class and help them focus on the main points discussed in the class. These meeting summaries should be reviewed and edited for accuracy before sharing them with a broader audience.
For any Zoom recording that has been recorded to the cloud, Smart Recordings offer the following features:
- Recording highlights
- Smart chapters
- Next steps
- Meeting coach provides analytics for the meeting host only; participants do not have access
As with the other AI Companion tools, meeting hosts can toggle them on or off in their Zoom settings.
Once a meeting has ended, meeting hosts can access and edit the Recording highlights, Smart chapters, and Next Steps in their main Zoom account. Hosts may also review the Meeting coach analytics: talk-listen ratio, longest spiel, filler words, talk speed, and patience.
Microsoft Copilot
Note: Approximately one week after our session, changes were made to how UMN faculty, staff, and students could use this platform. Specifically, the following has changed:
- Microsoft Copilot is now called 'Copilot with enterprise data protection.'
- Protected Health Information is no longer approved by the University for use in Copilot due to Microsoft revising previous data protection statements.
- Pending review, Private-Highly Restricted data may not be used with Microsoft Copilot with enterprise data protection.
- As of October 1, 2024, users are no longer able to upload files, including images, PDFs, documents, etc., to Copilot. This is due to Microsoft's integration of Copilot with Microsoft OneDrive, which is not used at the University. Users attempting to upload files see the message "An error occurred when uploading your file. Please try again." Repeated attempts deliver the same message.
See ai.umn.edu for current information.
What is Microsoft Copilot?
Microsoft Copilot describes itself as: “Your everyday AI companion that provides better answers, greater efficiency, and new ways to be creative.”
How is Microsoft Copilot used?
The most common way to access Copilot is to visit copilot.microsoft.com in any browser. Once there, users must log in and authenticate using UMN credentials to ensure that commercial data protection is enabled.
Teaching and Learning Examples
Due to Copilot changes, the examples we shared in the session are no longer accurate and cannot be used. See the Generative AI page on the UMN Teaching Support website for teaching resources, guidelines around usage, tutorials for students, and more information.
Summary
As we closed this session, we reminded participants of good practices when using AI for teaching.
- All output generated by AI tools should be reviewed for accuracy and edited (when applicable) before sharing.
- Instructors who plan to use AI tools for their courses should include a statement in their syllabus about what tools they will be using and how exactly these tools will be used.
- Instructors should explicitly inform students that any AI output should not be entirely relied upon for the accuracy of course content.
- Stay informed: AI is changing rapidly. See ai.umn.edu for current information.