In the coming months, new Microsoft AI features will be available to all State of Alaska employees at no additional cost. These innovative tools are designed to enhance productivity and streamline workflows, allowing employees to tackle their workloads more effectively.

Transcription for Meetings in Microsoft Teams

The first new feature, Transcription for meetings in Microsoft Teams, is available now. This powerful documentation tool utilizes AI to transcribe meetings, making it easier for users to compile accurate meeting notes. Transcription can be turned on and off at any time during a Teams meeting, and attendees are notified when Transcription is enabled.

"Having AI transcribe a meeting removes a frequently overlooked yet essential task of documenting decisions and follow-up actions. This new, free feature is a valuable tool for ensuring that we maintain the productivity of our meetings," said Niel Smith, Deputy Chief Information Officer for the Office of Information Technology.

For those employees with a M365 Copilot - a license available at an additional cost that offers access to AI assistants within some Microsoft Office applications - Transcription will automatically create AI-generated meeting notes and follow-up tasks for meeting attendees from the meeting transcription.

Copilot Chat

The second new feature, secure Copilot Chat, is scheduled to be released by Microsoft this summer. Copilot Chat is an AI-powered chat in Windows 11 and in the Edge browser that generates answers, analyzes data, and produces content using publicly available information pulled from the Internet. When signed in with your State of Alaska credentials, sessions remain private and data input will not be seen, shared, or retained by Microsoft. 

"We're seeing significant interest in using AI within the Microsoft applications that our employees are already using and familiar with. Adding AI capabilities within our secure, government license provides additional safeguards that allow employees to experiment with AI, to discover use cases, and to develop work processes that incorporate these tools," said Smith. 

Security and Privacy

As with any new feature, employees should review AI-generated content for accuracy and privacy prior to sharing; review the State of Alaska's Business Use and Acceptable Use information security policy [ISP-172]; understand your department's records retention requirements; and remember that all state records, including records generated through the use of M365 Copilot, may be subject to review and disclosure. 

Learn More

To learn more about M365 Copilot, including Copilot Chat, you can visit the M365 Copilot intranet site. This site is available to all employees logged into the State of Alaska network.

Please contact your department IT staff or Department Technology Officers (DTOs) if you have additional questions.