Getting Started with AI

Think of AI as your super-smart personal assistant for daily planning! You can give it your to-do list, and it can help you figure out the best way to tackle it. 

• Simple Step: Just ask your AI: "Here's my to-do list for today: [list your tasks, e.g., 'finish report, schedule meeting, call client, plan dinner']. How should I organize these and what should I start with?" 
• What AI does: AI tools can look at your deadlines and priorities to suggest the most urgent tasks. Some can even protect time for your personal habits (like exercise or reading) by smartly moving other tasks around. This helps you manage your schedule and reduce stress. 

What Copilot Can Do with Outlook Tasks: 

1. Summarize Your Tasks: It can review your tasks across Outlook and Microsoft To Do, and give you a summary of what’s pending, due soon, or overdue. 
2. Prioritize: Based on deadlines, importance, and context (like meetings or emails), Copilot can suggest a prioritized to-do list. 
3. Time Blocking: It can help you schedule time on your calendar to work on high-priority tasks. 
4. Follow-ups: It can identify tasks from emails that may need follow-up and suggest actions. 
5. Daily Briefing: If you use Viva Insights, Copilot can generate a daily briefing email with task reminders and suggested focus time.    

Additional Resource: Select the link to learn more about how to use Copilot in Microsoft Outlook Microsoft 365 Life Hacks: How to use Copilot in Microsoft Outlook 

In our busy digital world, it's easy to get sidetracked. AI can act like a digital filter, helping you concentrate on what truly matters. 

• Simple Step: Try asking your AI: "How can I better prioritize tasks to manage my workload and minimize distractions?" 

• What AI does: AI helps you sort through your workload, highlighting the most important items so you can focus your energy. It can help you reduce digital "noise" by prioritizing tasks and managing your workload, allowing you to concentrate better. 

1. Focus Time Scheduling: Copilot (via Viva Insights) can automatically schedule blocks of uninterrupted time on your calendar to work on high-priority tasks—muting notifications and setting your Teams status to “Do Not Disturb.” 
2. Email and Chat Summarization: Instead of checking every message, Copilot can summarize long email threads or Teams chats, helping you stay informed without getting pulled into every detail. 
3. Task Prioritization: It can review your tasks and meetings and suggest what to focus on first, helping you avoid context switching. 
4. Meeting Optimization: Copilot can suggest which meetings you can skip (based on your role or past participation) and provide summaries of meetings you missed. 
5. Distraction Insights: Viva Insights can show you how much time you spend in meetings, emails, or multitasking—helping you identify patterns and reduce digital noise. 
6. Daily Briefings: You’ll get a morning email summarizing your tasks, meetings, and suggested focus time, so you can start your day with clarity. 

Tired of endless emails and scheduling headaches? AI can take over those repetitive communication tasks, freeing up your time for more important thinking. 

• Simple Step: Ask your AI: "How can I use AI to remind me of important tasks, set up meetings, and draft emails, allowing more free time for more cognitive work?" 

• What AI does: AI tools can draft email replies for you based on the conversation, summarize long email threads, and even help you schedule meetings by finding the best times for everyone. Tools like Microsoft Copilot for Outlook are great for this. This means less time spent on back-and-forth messages and more time for creative or strategic tasks.    

• Additional Resources: Select the links below to learn how to use Copilot to manage tasks, schedule meetings, and draft emails.  

1. Manage Your Daily Life with Copilot  

This guide shows how Copilot can: 

• Help you create checklists and set reminders 
• Prioritize tasks and organize your day 
• Add events to your calendar 
• Support goal-setting and personal development 

2. Effortless Scheduling with Copilot 

This article explains how to:  

• Turn email threads into meeting invites with agendas 
• Use “Schedule with Copilot” in Outlook to auto-fill meeting details 
• Draft agendas using natural language prompts 

Whether you're stuck on a blank page or need to simplify complex information, AI can be your creative partner. 

• Simple Step: Ask your AI: "How can I use AI to revise documents to meet specific needs, summarize lengthy documents, and help with brainstorming ideas to help me to be more efficient and focused?" 

• What AI does: AI can help you brainstorm new ideas, write drafts of anything from emails to blog posts, and even refine your writing style to match your desired tone. It can also summarize long documents into quick, easy-to-understand overviews.    

What Can Google Gemini Do to Boost Writing and Content Creation: 

1. Idea Generation and Brainstorming: Gemini jumpstarts your creative process by overcoming writer's block and generating diverse content ideas, outlines, and fresh angles. It helps structure your thoughts and ensures a logical flow for various content formats. 
2. Content Drafting and Expansion: Gemini quickly drafts initial content across various formats, from emails to full articles, saving significant time and providing a solid starting point. It also assists in crafting detailed long-form content, realistic dialogue, and video scripts. 
3. Enhancing Quality and Readability: Gemini acts as an editor, refining your content for grammar, style, and clarity while offering rephrasing options and concise summaries. It helps maintain consistency and improves overall readability and professionalism. 
4. Research and Optimization: Gemini streamlines research by gathering information, fact-checking, and identifying relevant keywords for SEO, ensuring your content is well-informed and discoverable. It also provides audience insights to help tailor your content strategy effectively. 
5. Personalization and Customization: Gemini delivers personalized content by adjusting tone and generating multiple versions of text to match your brand voice or audience needs. This allows for real-time customization and a wider range of creative options. 
6. Integration and Efficiency: Seamlessly integrated with Google Workspace, Gemini enhances productivity by bringing AI capabilities directly into your everyday tools. Its multimodal abilities allow it to process and generate content across various formats, from text to video. 

Additional Resource: Select the link to access a quick-start handbook for effective prompts from Gemini for Google Workspace  Gemini for Google Workspace: Prompting Guide 101 

When you're faced with a big choice, AI can provide valuable insights to help you weigh your options. 

• Simple Step: Try asking your AI: "I need to make a decision regarding [your topic, e.g., 'which new software to adopt for my team']. What should I consider when making this decision?" 

• What AI does: AI can analyze data and information to give you a clear perspective, helping you understand the pros and cons of different choices [Make decisions with AI takeaway]. While AI provides data-backed suggestions, remember that your personal judgment and unique situation are always key to the final decision.    

How Copilot Can Support Big Decisions:  

1. Clarify Your Options: Copilot can help you list and compare the pros and cons of each choice, or even generate a decision matrix. 
2. Analyze Data: If your decision involves numbers (like budgets, timelines, or performance metrics), Copilot can summarize and visualize the data to make patterns easier to spot. 
3. Summarize Information: It can pull key points from documents, emails, or meeting notes to help you see the full picture. 
4. Draft Scenarios: You can ask Copilot to help you imagine “what if” scenarios—e.g., “What might happen if I choose Option A vs. Option B?” 
5. Organize Your Thoughts: Copilot can help you structure your thinking into a clear outline, presentation, or email to share with others for feedback. 

AI isn't just for daily tasks; it can be a powerful tool for your long-term career journey, helping you learn new skills and plan your path. 

• Simple Step: You can ask your AI: "What are career opportunities for me with my current experience [you can even paste your resume here]?" or "What should I do to prepare for career growth?" 

• What AI does: AI can offer personalized career guidance, suggest learning paths tailored to your goals, and even help you find networking contacts. It can also keep you updated on the latest industry trends, helping you stay ahead in the evolving professional landscape. 

Microsoft Copilot can be a powerful tool for growing your career and staying relevant in a rapidly changing workplace. Here are some official resources that explain how: 

1. Let Copilot Help You Choose a Career 

Learn how Copilot can help you: 

• Reflect on your interests and values 
• Identify transferable hard and soft skills 
• Explore new career paths based on your experience and passions 

2. Explore Different Career Paths 

This page shows how Copilot can: 

• Suggest personalized career options 
• Analyze your resume for skill gaps 
• Recommend learning paths and certifications 

3. Use Copilot to Help Get the Job You Want 

Discover how Copilot can act as your AI-powered career coach—helping you write resumes, prepare for interviews, and find job opportunities that match your goals.