Introduction
Indiana State University has adopted Microsoft Copilot as its official generative AI platform for faculty, staff, and students. Copilot is a Large Language Model interface to a growing collection of AI Agents which can perform generative and analytical tasks. This article provides technical guidance on accessing Copilot, understanding how it works, and ensuring data security.
Data Security and Compliance
ISU has selected Microsoft Copilot because of its robust data protection features. However, users must adhere to university data handling policies. Do not input any data that would be considered a breach under FERPA, HIPAA, PCI, GLBA, or other federal/state regulations.
Examples of restricted data include:
Social Security Numbers
Credit Card Numbers
Medical Information
Financial Aid Records
Student Names and Grades
Using non-ISU AI tools may expose sensitive data and violate university policy. Only Copilot is approved for institutional use.
What is a Large Language Model(LLM) and what are its pitfalls?
Large Language Models (LLMs) are a type of generative artificial intelligence designed to understand and generate human language. LLMs are trained on vast amounts of text data and can perform a variety of language-related tasks, such as text generation, translation, and summarization.
How LLMs Work:
LLMs operate by analyzing patterns in the text data they are trained on. They learn to predict the next word in a sentence, which allows them to generate coherent and contextually relevant text. This process involves complex algorithms and neural networks that mimic the way the human brain processes language.
Applications of LLMs include:
Creating articles, essays, and other written content
Translating text between languages
Summarizing long documents
Powering customer service chatbots
Assisting in writing scripts, stories, and other creative works
Pitfalls and Limitations of LLMs
While LLMs are powerful tools, they come with several important challenges and limitations:
- Bias
LLMs learn from vast amounts of text data, which can include biased or prejudiced content. This means they can sometimes produce biased or harmful outputs.
- Hallucinations
LLMs can generate information that sounds plausible but is entirely fabricated. This is known as "hallucination" and can lead to the spread of misinformation.
- Limited Reasoning Skills
Although LLMs are good at generating text, they often struggle with tasks that require complex reasoning or problem-solving. They are not actually intelligent—they just seem that way because they are able to match patterns so well.
- Environmental Impact
Training and running LLMs require significant computational power, leading to high energy consumption and environmental concerns.
- Ethical Implications
The ability of LLMs to generate realistic text can be misused to create fake news, deepfakes, or other misleading content, raising ethical concerns.
- Dependence on Data Quality
The performance of LLMs heavily depends on the quality of the data they are trained on. Poor-quality data can lead to inaccurate or unreliable outputs.
Understanding these pitfalls is crucial for using LLMs responsibly and effectively. By being aware of these limitations, users can better navigate the challenges and make more informed decisions when working with AI.
Microsoft Copilot Licensing: Chat vs. Full Integration
Microsoft offers two tiers of Copilot experiences: Copilot Chat and Microsoft 365 Copilot. While they share the same AI foundation, their capabilities and access levels differ significantly.
Copilot Chat is available to all campus users with a currently valid account. It provides a conversational interface where users can ask questions, summarize content, and get help with tasks using public web data and limited organizational context. It’s accessible via https://m365copilot.com and does not require a premium license. This version is ideal for general-purpose assistance and learning how to interact with AI in a Microsoft environment.
Microsoft 365 Copilot, on the other hand, is a licensed add-on for Microsoft 365 E3, E5, A3, A5, Business Standard, and Business Premium plans. It includes everything in Copilot Chat but adds deep integration into apps like Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Teams. This integration allows Copilot to work directly within documents, spreadsheets, emails, and meetings—leveraging your organization’s data such as files, emails, calendars, and chats to provide personalized, context-aware support. It also includes enterprise-grade features like SharePoint Advanced Management and the Copilot Dashboard for IT admins.
In short, Copilot Chat is a lightweight, web-based experience, while Microsoft 365 Copilot is a fully integrated, enterprise-grade solution that enhances productivity across the Microsoft 365 suite.
Accessing Microsoft Copilot
All ISU users can access the base version of Microsoft Copilot through their campus Microsoft 365 account.
How to Access:
- Go to https://office.com.
- Sign in with your ISU credentials.
- Select Copilot from the left-hand menu. (it may have also entirely replaced the original office.com interface in which case you'll see the prompt window immediately upon login)
- Enter a prompt or question to begin.
How to Use Copilot
Copilot uses a large language model as its interface so using Copilot can be as easy as having a conversation with it. You can use natural language and the ongoing context of the conversation to request information, generate text or images, or take advantage of the other features of Copilot.
To explore Copilot’s features, try prompting:
“Copilot, explain how to use your features, including how to initiate a prompt, provide feedback on suggestions, and access different functionalities based on the context of my work.”
What can Copilot Do?
- Draft and Edit Documents
Copilot can help you write reports, proposals, or emails by generating initial drafts based on your prompts. You can also ask it to rewrite, summarize, or adjust tone and clarity to suit your audience.
Explore the Get Started with Copilot module to learn how to prompt effectively and refine your writing.
- Create Presentations
You can describe the structure or purpose of a presentation, and Copilot will generate slides with suggested content, layouts, and even speaker notes. It’s especially useful for turning Word documents or meeting notes into decks.
Visit https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/copilot/ for presentation tips and walkthroughs.
- Analyze Data
Copilot can interpret Excel data, generate pivot tables, suggest visualizations, and even write formulas or summarize trends. Just describe what you want to understand, and it will guide you through the analysis.
Check out the Copilot Learning Hub for best practices in Excel and data analysis.
- Summarize Research
Paste in long articles, reports, or meeting transcripts, and Copilot can extract key points, action items, or themes. This is ideal for staying on top of complex topics or preparing executive summaries.
Learn how to use summarization tools in the AI Fluency module.
- Generate Creative Content
Whether you're brainstorming taglines, writing social media posts, or drafting blog entries, Copilot can offer creative variations and help refine your messaging.
Explore creative use cases in the Get Started with Copilot module.
These represent a few suggestions for how you might use Copilot. You can find more suggestions and thorough documentation on the Copilot Learning Hub.