About Microsoft Copilot Chat
Microsoft Copilot Chat is an AI-powered assistant available to Minnesota State students, faculty, and staff through Microsoft 365. You can use Copilot Chat to brainstorm ideas, summarize information, draft and revise content, analyze information, create images, research topics, and more.
Copilot Chat uses generative artificial intelligence (AI), which can create new content in response to your instructions, or prompts.
Microsoft 365 Copilot accessed through Minnesota State credentials is one of a few services leveraging a contractual agreement that ensures adherence to data security and data sharing protocols allowing non-public data to be used with the service. It has capabilities similar to ChatGPT, including summarization, data analysis, content creation, and drafting communications.
Access
Go to Microsoft 365 at office.com and sign in with your Minnesota State account: Employees (StarID@minnstate.edu) and Students (StarID@go.minnstate.edu) .
Tip: Remember office.com. It's an easy way to return to Microsoft 365 and Copilot. Copilot and other Microsoft 365 apps are available via: https://office.com
Protecting University Data
When you use Copilot Chat while signed in with your Minnesota State account, Microsoft provides enterprise data protection. Your prompts and Copilot's responses are not used to train the underlying foundation models.
Copilot activity is not necessarily private. Prompts and responses may be logged and are subject to applicable Microsoft 365 security, auditing, retention, and compliance controls.
Continue to follow Minnesota State and university policies and procedures when working with institutional data. Consider the sensitivity of information before including it in a prompt or uploading it to Copilot.
Features
Copilot Chat can be used to:
- Summarizing information: Condense reports, articles, notes, or other content and identify key points.
- Drafting and revising: Create a first draft of an email, announcement, instructions, outline, or other content, or ask Copilot to improve something you've already written.
- Brainstorming and planning: Generate ideas for activities, lessons, presentations, projects, events, or other work.
- Working with information: Compare information, organize ideas, identify patterns, or help explain unfamiliar concepts.
- Creating learning materials: Develop examples, discussion questions, scenarios, practice activities, study materials, or outlines.
- Working with files: Upload a document or other supported file and ask Copilot to summarize, explain, analyze, or help revise its contents.
- Researching topics: Ask questions about current information and use Copilot's citations to investigate the original sources.
- Creating images: Describe an image you would like Copilot to create and refine the result through additional prompts.
Check Copilot's work
Generative AI can produce information that is incorrect, incomplete, outdated, or fabricated.
Treat Copilot's response as a starting point rather than an authoritative source. Before using its output:
- Review important facts and claims.
- Verify information using reliable sources.
- Follow and evaluate citations rather than assuming a cited response is correct.
- Review AI-generated writing before sharing or publishing it.
- Use your own expertise and judgment when making academic or workplace decisions.
You are responsible for reviewing and appropriately using content you create with Copilot.
AI and academic work
Students should follow their instructor's directions regarding the use of generative AI for coursework. Whether and how AI may be used can vary by course, assignment, or activity.
Faculty and staff should consider how the use of AI affects accuracy, privacy, accessibility, academic integrity, copyright, and other requirements relevant to their work.
For additional guidance, see Minnesota State and St. Cloud State University policies and resources related to artificial intelligence, academic integrity, and responsible technology use.
Related Minnesota State AI Guidance
Please review the Generative Artificial Intelligence: Policy Intersections, Considerations, and Recommendations published by Minnesota State.
Useful Resources
Other Copilots
Microsoft offers other Copilots, including but not limited to: Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot for Github, Copilot Studio, and Azure AI Studio.