Microsoft Copilot

Look for the green “Protected” icon. 

The “Protected” symbol/icon will appear in multiple places to verify you are connected to the University of Toronto Microsoft Copilot. 

1. When using the main browser chat, at the top right of the chat page beside your profile.  
2. When using the main browser chat, directly above the “Ask me anything…” box. 
3. When using the sidebar chat feature with the Microsoft Edge browser, near the top left “Chat / Compose” options. 
4. When using the sidebar chat feature with the Microsoft Edge browser, directly above the “Ask me anything…” box. 

If you see either “Sign in”, or a blue medal icon beside your profile icon, or the “Protected” symbol is not next to your profile icon: 

This means you are not connected to the protected version of Microsoft Copilot, and your conversation and data are part of the general public Copilot version.  

It is recommended to use the Microsoft Edge browser as your Copilot application.  (These instructions will follow the process when using the Edge browser, your experience may be different if you use an alternative browser.)

1. Navigate to copilot.microsoft.com and select “Sign in” near the top right corner.  Select the “Sign in with a work or school account” option.

2. On the Microsoft “Sign in” screen, enter your University of Toronto email address and select “Next”.

3. Enter your UTORid information and select “log in”.

4. “Stay Signed in” – if you are using your own private secure computer you may select “yes”, otherwise if using a shared computer select “no”.

5. Accept or reject the cookie options.

6. Access the Copilot sidebar experience by selecting the Copilot icon at the top right corner of the Edge browser.

7. You may be asked to “Allow Microsoft to access page content”.  Select the checkbox and the “Confirm and continue chatting”.

The option to “Allow Microsoft to access page content” can be adjusted anytime in the Copilot sidebar settings.

You may also receive a pop-up or warning that Copilot can not access your main browser windows because your Safe Search settings are too strict.

This can be fixed by browsing to bing.com, selecting the Bing menu (the hamburger menu beside your login name near the top right of the Bing search menu bar), and changing the “SafeSearch” option from “Strict”.

• Instructors should be clear about their expectations for using generative AI tools in their course. 
• Include your expectations in your syllabus and discuss openly with your class. Is it important to indicate how your acceptable use relates to the course learning goals, so students understand the reason why they are or are not allowed to use generative AI tools. The Sample Syllabus Statement resource, produced by the Office of the Vice-Provost, Innovations in Undergraduate Education, provides advice and examples to include in your own syllabus. 
• Consult university policies and guidelines. In particular, instructors can visit the ChatGPT and Generative AI in the Classroom FAQ site for more information. 
• Try it for yourself; you do not need to become an expert in using Generative AI tools.  Trying out a few tools for yourself will at least give you an idea of what your students are able to do when interacting with your course content.  
• Never upload or use information which may be considered confidential, sensitive, private or personal as part of prompting an AI too. And do not use material where you do not own the copyright – don’t upload other people’s work, especially student work, where you do not have written consent to do so. 

A prompt is natural language text describing the task that an AI agent or chatbot should perform. Prompt writing (sometimes known as prompt engineering) is the process of structuring a prompt that can be interpreted and understood by the AI system. In the context of using Microsoft Copilot, a prompt can be a textual query such as “What is the Pythagoream theorem?”, or a command such as “Write a poem about the sun”, or a short statement such as “Your last response requires more details.”. 

Prompt writing guidance

Start with basic information: 

1. Be clear and specific.   
2. Provide relevant context and background information. 
3. Provide examples. 

Try some more advanced prompt writing techniques:

Using the Sidebar experience with Copilot and the Edge browser, Copilot can “see” the content in the regular browser window.  

This content that you can then ask Copilot questions of can be in many forms such as:

• A local file from your computer such as a pdf.
• A web page you are currently viewing or ask Copilot to search the entire site for context.
• A video, for example, while watching a YouTube video you can ask Copilot questions about that video.
• An image file, either public URL or upload an image.  You can ask Copilot to explain information in a graph for example.
• A publicly available URL that is a text file such as a pdf.

How to open a local file from your computer.
(Depending on how your browser handles opening certain file types, it may or may not open properly in the Edge browser window.)

On a PC:

1. Using the Windows File Explorer, navigate to the file you wish to use.
2. Right-click with your mouse and select “Open with” from the drop-down menu.
3. Select Microsoft Edge

On a Mac:

1. With the Microsoft Edge browser open, select “File” from the top menu bar and then “Open File…” .

This Microsoft Copilot edition (Commercial data protection for Microsoft Copilot) has been evaluated by the University’s Information Security team, and it has been deemed safe to use for up to Level 3 (Three) data avoiding the use of any private, sensitive, personally identifiable or confidential information.

Guidelines on using artificial intelligence (University of Toronto Information Security)

Furthermore, users should only use Copilot with their own content or content available publicly but not where the copyright holder has not granted permission. To read more about copyright and AI considerations, please visit this helpful resource from the University of Toronto Libraries. Where possible, de-identify (replace personally identifiable information fields with one or more artificial identifiers) or anonymize (remove personally identifiable data) data sets to avoid any privacy implications.