5 Use Cases for Bing Chat Enterprise

In this post I will share five ways in which Bing Chat Enterprise can help you be more productive.

Introduction

Bing Chat Enterprise is a chat interface based on ChatGPT. It can do everything that ChatGPT can and has the added benefit of tapping in to Bing’s web search to support its responses. The best way to see what it can do is to try experimenting with it. Bing Chat and Bing Chat Enterprise provide the same experience, however Bing Chat Enterprise has three key differences:

To use Bing Chat Enterprise you must be authenticated with a work account that has a required M365 license.
Bing Chat Enterprise is covered by the Microsoft Copilot Copyright Commitment.
Bing Chat Enterprise has Commercial Data Protection.

When you access Bing Chat Enterprise, you will see a prompt to ask a question.

But what can you do? Here’s some examples:

1. Composing

2. Presentations

3. Scripting

4. Creating Tables

5. Research Assistant

Ever been frustrated when a legacy keyword web search serves you up dozens of useless results? Imagine if you had an assistant who could understanding what you want and collate the most useful results for you? Let me walk you through an example.

I wanted to find out some information about Chromebook usage in Japan. So I asked Bing Chat Enterprise “What is the market share of Chromebooks in Japan?”:

When Bing Chat Enterprise was unable to find any statistics specifically for Japan, it asserts that Chromebook usage is likely low and provides some other useful information that would have taken me a while to collate on my own.
One of the lines stood out was a suggestion that Chromebooks have low usability for Japanese users:

I clicked that fifth source and immediately noticed that it was from an old article from 2014:

So I asked Bing Chat Enterprise for more recent evidence:.

Within seconds, Bing Chat Enterprise presents me with recent sources of possible explanations of low Chromebook usage in Japan:

This entire interaction took around 5 minutes. Think of the time saved by using Bing Chat Enterprise to sift through all the possible results and collate the evidence for me.

Summary

Like all new technologies, Bing Chat Enterprise and other generative AI prompt style services take practice to harness the full potential. Bing Chat Enterprise’s copyright legal protection and commercial data protection are what makes the service stand out from many others.

The ‘little brother’ of M365 Copilot, Bing Chat Enterprise should not be underestimated and is a quick win for starting your organisation on its journey with generative AI.

How to Disable Windows Copilot using Intune or Group Policy

In this post I will explain how to use Microsoft Intune or Active Directory Group Policy to disable Windows Copilot for one or more users.

Introduction

On 26th September 2023, Microsoft released optional update KB5030310, one of the most ground breaking updates to Windows in recent times. With it comes Windows Copilot, which for millions of users worldwide will serve as an introduction to using an AI powered chat interface to enhance their day to day productivity.

Many organisations are still adjusting to the march to an AI enabled workplace and so need some time to test and understand before unleashing it for their workforce.

Disable with Intune

A recent addition to the Policy CSP is the TurnOffWindowsCopilot setting, documented here. At the time of publishing this post there is no built-in setting in Intune to manage Windows Copilot. So we will create a custom OMA-URI policy:

In Intune, select Devices > Windows > Configuration Profiles > Create profile.
Under Platform select Windows 10 and later.
Under Profile type select Templates.
Under Template Name select Custom > select Create.

Name the profile something meaningful.
Under Configuration Settings select Add.
Set the name to something meaningful.
Under OMA-URI enter the below text:

./User/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/WindowsAI/TurnOffWindowsCopilot

Set Data type to Integer.
Set the Value to 1 (setting it to 0 will enable Windows Copilot which is the default setting).

Save the policy and assign it to a security group containing users for whom you wish to disable Windows Copilot.
No reboot is required. When the user next signs in, the Windows Copilot icon in the taskbar will have been removed.

The Administrative Template that is used in the Group Policy version below cannot be imported in to Intune as a Custom Administrative Template. When you come to apply it to a device it will fail because it tries to modify a protected part of the registry.

Disable with Group Policy

Pre-Requisites

Obtain the WindowsCopilot.admx and WindowsCopilot.adml files from the C:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions file of a Windows 11 device that has the KB5030310 installed on it.
- When Windows 11 23H2 is released it will include the same files.
- Alternatively, you can download the files from my Github here.

Implement Group Policy

Import the WindowsCopilot.admx file to the PolicyDefinitions folder in your domain. This will either be C:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions on your Domain Controllers or if you have a central store configured (which you should do), it will be in a location like:

\\contoso.com\SYSVOL\contoso.com\policies\PolicyDefinitions

Import the WindowsCopilot.adml file to the PolicyDefinitions\en-US folder.
On a Domain Controller or from a device with the AD DS management tools installed, open Group Policy Management console.
Create a new Group Policy Object and name it something meaningful.

Edit the GPO, expand User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Copilot

Open the setting Turn off Windows Copilot.
Set it to Enabled.

Select OK. The policy will now look like this:

Link the GPO to an Organisational Unit that contains users for whom you wish to disable Windows Copilot.
No reboot is required. When the user next signs in, the Windows Copilot icon in the taskbar will have been removed.

Summary

Windows Copilot provides an opportunity for users to begin experimenting with a new way to command their computers. In a production environment, it is important to use deployment rings such as Test, Pilot and Broad to prepare for and understand the impact of any change to the environment. An ability to roll back for individual users is most welcome. Fortunately, Microsoft have made it easy to switch Windows Copilot on and off on a targeted basis.

Preparing for Microsoft Copilot

💡 What are some of the things you can do NOW to start preparing for Microsoft Copilot in your organisation?

✅ Understand that there is technical readiness and people readiness. Both need attention to maximise return on investment.

✅ Familiarise yourself with Copilot and its role in the world of generative AI https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/ai.

✅ Engage your Ethics, Legal, and Inclusion champions early on to address the implications of generative AI.

✅ Incorporate the six Microsoft principles in AI into your company’s AI usage policy https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/ai/responsible-ai.

✅ Take your first step into the Copilot world with Bing Chat Enterprise https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/bing/chat/enterprise/?form=MA13FV, an AI-powered chat platform included with common M365 licences

✅ Prioritise data security by reviewing identity and access policies, using data labelling for sensitive documents, and ensuring awareness of file sharing risks. Do your device management policies need a health check?

✅ Identify areas where you may need external assistance and initiate conversations with technology partners.

🚀 Implementing generative AI into a business is a marathon, not a sprint. Set those expectations now. There are quick wins out there to get hands on with the technology while you get Org ready. Windows Copilot in Windows 11 is one of them Hands on with Windows Copilot.