Agenda item

Co - Pilot Demonstration

The Chamberlain to be heard.

Minutes:

The Committee received a verbal report of the Chamberlain, concerning a demonstration of Microsoft Co-Pilot. The Committee heard that Co-Pilot could be used, for instance, to summarise emails, schedule meetings, and summarise meeting actions. Licenses were being funded from individual Department budgets, but also depended on the aptitude of the individual and whether they wished to utilise Co-Pilot. There were signs on the return of investment, but the technology needed to continue to be used in the long-term and be embedded into everyday use.

 

The Committee viewed a demonstration of Microsoft Co-Pilot. Following this, it was invited to ask questions.

 

It would be investigated as to whether Members could have a Co-Pilot license. The Town Clerk’s Department were one of the early adopters of the license. One of the abilities of Co-Pilot was to provide basic summaries of committee agendas. Co-Pilot could be used to schedule meetings, but this would have to be investigated further.

 

The Committee were reminded of the importance of guardrails and risk assessments when using any Artificial Intelligence (AI), including being mindful of where data was pulled from and used. There was also internal data that was highly sensitive and could unintentionally create bias.

 

In terms of using other Generative AI applications, the Committee had approved a Generative AI Policy, and there was the ability to switch off the use of Generative AI on City Corporation devices, but this had not been used as there was little to no evidence of misuse. When a device connected to the internet, there was web filtering which could detect the use of Generative AI. There would also be mandatory training informing use, which would extend to Members.

 

RESOLVED – That the verbal report be received.