The age of Copilots, and the PMO!

At the Microsoft Ignite 2023 event, it was very apparent! We are in the “Age of copilots”. And that is a good thing, because with the general availability, we can start seeing a more capable assistant very soon (because of all the information we get from the initial wave of users). Let’s see what we can get with the PMO in mind.

A project Manager sitting at his desk working on a spreadsheet, he has a little angel at his shoulder wearing a pilot helmet. Bing.com/create



Copilot resources from Microsoft

Microsoft is going the extra mile with regard to AI. Their solutions, under the umbrella “copilot”, are infused in nearly all software that the tech giant offers. Ranging from Excel to Teams and even Power BI.

To get a better understanding of what one specific solution means for us, I wrote an article for MPUG. In this article, I cover the Microsoft 365 Copilot.

But, as mentioned, there are a lot more copilots to cover. And Microsoft has a couple of very useful resources it shares with us. Make sure you read up on the next innovation wave, because it will come for us all.

We are overrun with GPTs!

Which is a good thing, actually.

With the option to create your own GPT, any ChatGPT Plus member has the ability to finetune a model to a specific use case. I’ve personally created 2 GPTs already, and its a lot of fun to see them succeed in the specific tasks we assign to them. I’m not the only one using them btw, so far these are the numbers:

My two personal copilots for work.
Vicky and the PMO Pro GPTs are doing quite well.

I used Vicky myself recently while creating a Gantt chart visual in Power BI. It was a lot of fun, and amazing to see the speed at which the code was perfected. Take a look at the video here:

https://youtu.be/x4B15UR4PlA
The Vicky Vega introduction video.

But, I’m not the only person creating these GPT models, here are some of my favorites, feel free to share your GPTs and I hope to feature them in the future posts.

  • Addytm (Power BI guru)
  • ProPlan Master (Project Management guru)
  • Henry Gantt (You know the guy by the size of his bar charts 😉, this is a funny GPT)



Final notes

You probably heard the phrase “AI won’t take your job, but people using AI will”? With all that happened at OpenAI and the Q* scare, I thought of a different sentence. Let me know what you think (through LinkedIn or X for instance):

“AI won’t take your job, but AGI will.”

Erik van Hurck

There is a real possibility that Artificial General Intelligence can steamroll all other endeavours. We have already seen the speed at which focussed (Generative) AI improves writing, art, code development, and other activities and improves on it substantially.

The next (last?) step would be autonomy. Currently, most AI is created to support our work. But as soon as the tables turn and AGI gets the option to go after its own goals… there’s a real scary thought.

Oke, but is there a silver lining? Maybe the people at HBR and INSEAD have found it for me, here’s a quote I want to leave you with:

Does it mean that humans will be out of a job? Of course, if people mimic a robot, then a real robot is likely to do a better job, and those people risk being made redundant. But there is also plenty of evidence to suggest that strategy-making will still require a human touch, and that the best way forward is to pair smart machines with smart humans.  In fact, technology has in nearly every field increased the value of the humans using it. By freeing strategists from routine tasks, AI enables them to imagine and experiment more. Financial analysts became more efficient with spreadsheets, writers more proficient with word processors. Well-built digital tools eventually enhance human productivity — and they also typically create new jobs, though the transformation can be challenging.

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