Microsoft Copilot makes work at KI more efficient
AI is increasingly being used in healthcare, education and research. AI chats are part of the AI offering at KI and Copilot (previously called Bing Chat Enterprise) has recently been made available to all employees. The goal is for AI to become part of the everyday work of KI's researchers, staff and students.
AI's ability to process and analyze large amounts of data at a speed that no human can match is a revolutionary development that opens up new dimensions in science. The development of various AI tools is almost as fast, but KI's IT department is at the forefront of development.
"For some time now, we have been investigating the possibilities of introducing an AI-based chat function for employees at KI. AI tools are evolving at a very rapid pace. New ones are launched on an ongoing basis and it is difficult to find the time to analyze all the tools properly", says Johan Lagerros, research infrastructure specialist in IT research support at the IT Research Department, Karolinska Institutet. "When Microsoft recently introduced Bing Chat Enterprise, we evaluated the tool and decided to test it."
Bing Chat Enterprise
What distinguishes Bing Chat Enterprise (Bing) from other similar tools is, among other things, that user and business data is protected within KI's instance at Microsoft's Swedish data center and will not leak outside the organization.
With the use of AI also comes responsibility. Fully relying on AI tools can come with some risks. A valuable benefit of Bing is that it offers a source citation of the information that the chatbot presents.
"AI should be seen as a foundation, as a new tool in the toolbox. You can't trust that the information you receive is 100 percent accurate. In addition, it can be biased. In order to use AI in the best way, it is important to have some insight into the subject, be able to formulate the questions correctly and also analyse the answers correctly," explains Mikael Carp, coordinator of IT research support at the IT Division, Karolinska Institutet.
Saving time an important advantage
Whether it's simplifying administration, doing research, summarizing publications, or helping to cure diseases, AI offers a common benefit: time savings.
"With the help of an AI-powered chat tool like Bing, it's possible to ask well-informed questions and get very deep and impressive answers. Imagine a subject where AI summarises 50,000 articles, and can also obtain information about which findings are controversial, which are consensus, or whether there are specific knowledge gaps on the subject," says Johan Lagerros.
Education is another area where chat tools, such as Bing, can save time and develop the pedagogical level. For example, the educator can get help to put together documentation, create informative images and highlight interesting cases. In the future, for example, it may be possible to have more personalised teaching.
"When the AI tool has access to your own data and can provide help in everyday life, then I think it will be very interesting. For example, it can be about support in planning the structure of a particular meeting, converting complex information into a PowerPoint or generally just helping to create order," explains Johan Lagerros.
Collaborations for the AI of the future
In order to be at the forefront, KI collaborates internally, with other universities and also with Microsoft.
"Together, we are investigating different possible services and use cases. One example we have seen is a chatbot, which is a type of digital information desk for new students that a university has developed. We also have a continuous dialogue with Microsoft to see if it is possible to create services that are more aimed at the research world," concludes Mikael Carp.
Good to know when using Bing Chat Enterprise (Bing)
- The service is free of charge for KI employees.
- All the data you enter is protected.
- Bing provides a source reference/reference to the answers you receive.
- Bing is built into both the Microsoft Edge browser and the mobile app.
- There are two features: chat for quick information retrieval and compose to help you create content from scratch.
- Different settings are possible, for example, you can set how much "imagination" your chatbot should be allowed to convey.
Examples of what a chatbot can help you with
- Search for information in articles and other resources to save time in gathering information.
- Get summaries, analysis, and insights into documents, reports, and articles.
- Find ideas for projects and experiments.
- Get help writing texts and get suggestions for structure, grammar and style.
- Create illustrations, figures, and graphs.
- Develop practice questions, explanations, and educational content.
- Develop code and check programming.