AI
Your Virtual Assistant

Have you ever wanted to know how to do something but did not know how? Did you know that there is an AI virtual assistant right on your computer?

Look at your Taskbar (bottom of your screen) for a multi-colored broken square. That ICON is the Microsoft CoPilot; it is a free artificial intelligence (AI) App.

AI is a large language model that communicates with you in English. You type or speak your input (called a Prompt) in the CoPilot “Ask Anything” box. CoPilot then scours all websites on the internet to find an answer for what you’ve asked it to do for you. In less than a minute, CoPilot outputs a composite response that you can use. The speed of the response is due to those AI data centers that you’ve heard about on the news.

AI is a relatively new phenomenon. You may be scared to use it. But, trust me, once you start, you will use it for many different things you want to know. CoPilot comes with your Windows computer and can be installed on your smartphone from the App Store (iPhone) or Play Store (Android). Note that there are several AI Apps: Google Gemini and ChatGPT can also be used for AI.

Here are some prompts that I’ve used with CoPilot:

• Please provide instructions for connecting my HP Smarttank 6000 printer to my wi-fi.
• Please create a packing list for my week-long trip to Portland, ME, in November.
• Please generate an illustration for my Substack article about using CoPilot AI.
• Please tell me what side effects to look out for when taking XXX and YYY meds.
• Please create a reasonable schedule for me to caregive in the morning and do remote support for my clients in the afternoon, without burning me out.
• My laptop screen is black. What do you suggest?