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M365 copilot is a poor product in search of a use. I expected it to be my assistant. So far I’ve found that it can’t do any of the things I would ask of an assi

M365 copilot is a poor product in search of a use. I expected it to be my assistant. So far I’ve found that it can’t do any of the things I would ask of an assistant. It cannot create calendar entries. It cannot identify (correctly) who reports to me or give me a list of email addresses for employees of a particular organization unit. So far I’ve found it okay at summarizing things, but not reliably. Of a large email chain it only summarized the most recent few emails.

wkat4242 2y ago
Yes indeed. And meeting notes are full of errors. Also because the transcription really sucks with non-native speakers. I'm often surprised the notes even make sense when I read the transcript garbage. The problem is that people are already relying on it. Several times a day I get copy pasted meeting minutes with the "generated by AI, check for accuracy" disclaimer still on it. But the user just dumped it onwards. This is not how this should work. The user responsible for the minutes should check the notes themselves and then send them on. They still save time by not having to write them from scratch. But of course people are lazy and when the incorrect minutes lead to the inevitable confusion they just shrug and quote that disclaimer. NO, you're responsible even if you've used the AI. Really ticks me off. These minutes are often for people that couldn't attend the meeting so they have no way to "check for accuracy".
- emptiestplace 2y ago
  I agree that people should care about what it is producing on their behalf, but as long as it looks like something, it's probably gonna fly—someone actually taking the time to read it is more of a hypothetical anomaly anyway. I suspect the real problem is much more fundamental: the vast majority of work we do is bullshit, and nobody gives a fuck about any of it.
  - wkat4242 2y ago
    If nobody is going to read it then just don't do minutes. But in my experience these minutes are referred to later to see what happened in the past especially when something went wrong and then this garbage makes for really confusing results and can even get people accused for incorrect decisions. Especially because the full transcripts and recordings are usually expired. Incorrect/misrepresented meeting minutes are a lot worse than none at all. That's why I do read them and correct the assholes that just dump them on the email because I don't want to be accused later of saying or doing something I didn't do.

wkat4242 2y ago

Yes indeed. And meeting notes are full of errors. Also because the transcription really sucks with non-native speakers. I'm often surprised the notes even make sense when I read the transcript garbage. The problem is that people are already relying on it. Several times a day I get copy pasted meeting minutes with the "generated by AI, check for accuracy" disclaimer still on it. But the user just dumped it onwards. This is not how this should work. The user responsible for the minutes should check the notes themselves and then send them on. They still save time by not having to write them from scratch. But of course people are lazy and when the incorrect minutes lead to the inevitable confusion they just shrug and quote that disclaimer. NO, you're responsible even if you've used the AI. Really ticks me off. These minutes are often for people that couldn't attend the meeting so they have no way to "check for accuracy".

emptiestplace 2y ago
I agree that people should care about what it is producing on their behalf, but as long as it looks like something, it's probably gonna fly—someone actually taking the time to read it is more of a hypothetical anomaly anyway. I suspect the real problem is much more fundamental: the vast majority of work we do is bullshit, and nobody gives a fuck about any of it.
- wkat4242 2y ago
  If nobody is going to read it then just don't do minutes. But in my experience these minutes are referred to later to see what happened in the past especially when something went wrong and then this garbage makes for really confusing results and can even get people accused for incorrect decisions. Especially because the full transcripts and recordings are usually expired. Incorrect/misrepresented meeting minutes are a lot worse than none at all. That's why I do read them and correct the assholes that just dump them on the email because I don't want to be accused later of saying or doing something I didn't do.