By Susanna Ray
Generative AI tools like Microsoft Copilot can help you be more creative, boost your productivity, assist with research, and save time.
And you don’t need to be a computer scientist to get the most out of your results. Three basic steps for giving Copilot instructions, called prompts, make the task as easy as ASKing for what you need:
(Action) Action — Explain what you want the Copilot to do.
(style) Style — Describe the format in which you want the response to be presented.
(Key details) Key Details — Set the scene with more context about your situation.
Let’s dive into the details of how to use AI.
(Action) Action
Start by opening Copilot on your computer or phone, then type or say what you want it to do, asking for the result you’re looking for. Even if that’s all you do, you’ll get a response from Copilot, and it might be enough for what you need.
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“Please give me three book recommendations for my book club.”
“I need help scheduling 15 minutes a day for mindfulness, please.”
“Can you help me create a budget for my family trip from New York to Paris?”
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Most people learned how to use search engines by simplifying commands to the basics: “good books.” But because Copilot helps you do more than just search, it works best if you break out of that keyword mold, expand your requests, and “talk” to it in a natural way, like you would with an assistant.
(style) Style
Copilot can respond to certain requests with simple lists and others with a full page explaining its response. But you can add more to your prompt to specify the delivery or format that would be most helpful to you.
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“Please give me three book recommendations for my book club. Give your answer in a table that includes the book title, summary, and four discussion questions for each.“
“I need help scheduling 15 minutes a day to do mindfulness, please. For each day of the week, include daily prompts to help me start meditating and writing in my journal.“
“Can you help me create a budget for my family trip from New York to Paris? I would like all the elements of this trip to be listed for easy transfer to a spreadsheet.“
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Copilot can present answers in almost unlimited formats, from poems to rap. He may compose a professional email to a company’s customer service department to help them resolve an issue. It can give you a list of pros and cons for a decision you need to make. And it can adapt the delivery to provide a high school-level explanation of something you don’t understand.
Specifying the style you want helps better meet your needs.
(Key details) Key Details
How does Copilot know what kind of books you want to read, or what inspires you, or how you like to travel? This is where it helps the tool to perform better if you add some details about your story and situation. This reduces the search by providing context to help Copilot provide a more personalized response.
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“Please give me three book recommendations for my book club. Give your answer in a table that includes the book title, summary, and four discussion questions for each. My club is made up of millennials, aged between 30 and 35. We are avid readers interested in mystery, drama and romance. We meet in person weekly, so please give me a reading schedule corresponding to the meeting cadence.“
“I need help scheduling 15 minutes of daily mindfulness time, please. For each day of the week, include daily prompts to help me start meditating and writing in my journal. I’m a nature enthusiast who loves spending time in the park.“
“Can you help me create a budget for my family trip from New York to Paris? I would like all the elements of this trip to be listed for easy transfer to a spreadsheet. We are planning a five-day trip for a family of four this summer, with the intention of visiting tourist attractions and museums while dining on three higher-priced meals, one of which is high quality.“
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The more details you provide, the better the answer. That’s because Copilot combines the reasoning power of a large language model — a complex statistical model inputting enormous amounts of historical data — with the benefits of Microsoft technology and search index that provide more relevant and timely answers to users .
While including action, style, and key details will help you get more useful results, it doesn’t matter in which order you ask for help — Copilot will understand. You can mix these elements however you like when creating your prompts, by telling about your situation first, or even starting with the format you want for your results.
Working with generative AI tools is a dynamic and iterative process. Your initial prompt may just be the beginning — you may need to have a more in-depth conversation with the Copilot by asking follow-up questions, providing more context, or clarifying the outcome you are seeking, all of which help improve the effectiveness of your responses. If you want more information, you can ask Copilot to explain how he arrived at his answer.
To start using Copilot in your routine, simply ask what you want to know.
