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Microsoft Copilot Enterprise

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Microsoft Copilot Enterprise – A Way to Experiment with Generative AI

This university-wide “private” version of Microsoft Copilot enables faculty, staff and students who are 18 years of age or older to experiment with generative AI text, image, and coding tools without storing the person’s login and chat data or being used to train the large language models.

On This Page

Overview

Microsoft Copilot Enterprise is a generative artificial intelligence (AI) chat with commercial data protection currently available to faculty, staff, and students who are 18 years of age or older.

Microsoft Copilot is powered by GPT, Dall-E, and Microsoft’s search engine, which improves how current and accurate its responses are, but also means chats make use of the public search engine where privacy is limited. For this reason, be sure to only enter low-risk data (information that the university has made available or published for the explicit use of the general public). If you need a tool that enables you to use higher levels of data, see Ideas, Requests, and Oversight of AI at Cornell for next steps.

Microsoft Copilot can help you research industry insights, analyze data, or seek new approaches. It can provide access to better answers, help improve efficiency, and suggest new ways to be creative.

What You Can Do with Copilot Enterprise

  • Analyze data: “Show totals by category over time,” or “Build a table that compares Cornell women's hockey goals and saves with Harvard's.”
  • Generate an image: "Create an image of a cat playing with a toy, in the style of Dali"
  • Prepare for meetings: “Create an agenda for a second meeting with my team.”  
  • Summarize documents, PDFs, or speeches open in your Edge browser: “Summarize the Cornell Chronicle article about bobcats in five bullet points.” 
  • Review your writing: “Suggest ways to improve this content.”
  • More ideas for using Copilot

Need more help? Explore Copilot training with 2-5 minute short videos, detailed online courses, e-books, and more.

For those interested in sharing your experiences, understanding the boundaries, exploring the possibilities, and learning how to effectively use Microsoft Copilot, join the Microsoft Copilot SIG organized through Teams, and open to all members of the Cornell community.

Start Using Copilot Enterprise

To use Copilot, visit copilot.microsoft.com and sign in with your NetID and password to use the protected version. Copilot works on any browser; for the most features, use the Microsoft Edge browser.

For updated information about the number of conversations, images, file uploads, and so on that your Cornell Microsoft account offers, refer to Microsoft's documentation.

Precautions when using AI tools:
 

  • Verify the results. (As with any generative AI tool, responses from Copilot may not always be accurate.)
  • Check for biases that may be included.
  • Only enter low-risk data (information that the university has made available or published for the explicit use of the general public). All medium- and high-risk data is prohibited. Microsoft Copilot uses GPT, Dall-E, and Microsoft’s search engine, which improves how current and accurate its responses are, but also means chats make use of the public search engine where privacy is limited. 
  • Make sure your intended use fits university guidelines for AI. If you have more questions, review the guidelines and your ideas with your supervisor, professor, or the Center for Teaching Innovation (CTI).

How Copilot Enterprise Works

  • Uses GPT for text and DALL-E for images
  • Cites the data sources behind its answers
  • Provides up-to-date answers. Answers are not limited by the date of the AI model.

Copilot is grounded in data from the public web and provides complete, verifiable answers with citations, along with visual answers that include graphs and charts.

A student working on a laptop while another student looks on

 

Privacy Benefits

Your personal and organizational data are protected, but only when you sign in to Copilot Enterprise with your NetID and password. Safeguards include:

  • Microsoft does not view your conversations.
  • Your prompts, answers, and viewed content are not used to train the underlying large language models.

Other Copilot Applications

Copilot Enterprise is only one offering called "Copilot" by Microsoft. The many Copilot applications can be confusing. For help, see Understanding the Different Services Called Copilot. 

Cornell is evaluating the cost, privacy, security, and licensing requirements of other Copilot services.

Service Details:

Summary:

AI-powered chat with commercial data protection using Microsoft Copilot Enterprise

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