Are AI Chatbots About to Make Work Meetings Worse Than Ever?
Ever since video calls infiltrated our work lives in 2020, employers have lassoed us into more and more online meetings (many of which probably could’ve been emails). In fact, over the last three years, people have attended 192 percent more Microsoft Teams meetings and calls per week compared to pre-pandemic times, the company reported in May.
Now, tech giants like Microsoft and Google say they have a solution to the very meeting malaise that they helped create: They’re enlisting chatbots, the buzzy artificial intelligence tools that mimic conversations among humans, to make digital gatherings more meaningful and efficient.
You’ve likely heard of Open AI’s chatbot, ChatGPT, which is now used for everything from cheating in class and writing music to churning out scientific papers. Now, Microsoft has used the same model behind ChatGPT to create its own trusty work assistant called Copilot. On Nov. 1, businesses that have signed up for Microsoft 365’s enterprise plans can use the assistant for tasks such as transcribing and summarizing meetings, assembling lists of action items, and even highlighting each time a specific colleague is mentioned during a call.