"We have to unlearn the way we work to unleash our potential"

The technology is here to stay

When you get in your car, you tell your GPS where you want to go. Then, Waze plots the ideal route for you, allowing you to drive into the parking lot and approach the barrier without doing anything to open it. Voice technology, computer vision, and the underlying algorithms that make this happen are just the first steps in the AI revolution. At our ​“Unlocking Copilot’s Legal Potential” event, Marijke Schroos, General Manager at Microsoft Belux, talked about the speed and magnitude of this revolution.

‘We’re beyond the hype, the rollout of generative AI is going very fast and the technology is here to stay. It took mobile phones 16 years to reach 100 million users, the internet seven years and Facebook four and a half years. ChatGPT only needed three months’, she said.

Why is it going so fast? And is this truly a game-changer? ​‘There are two main components that make generative AI unique. On one side, there’s the natural user interface, which means you can use your natural language, whether it’s text, speech, or other forms. It’s a very natural way to interact with technology. On the other side, there’s the reasoning engine, which has high-speed computing power. This allows us to find patterns and combine information easily.’

According to Marijke, this is as transformative as the PC in the 1980s, the Internet in the 1990s, mobile phones in 2000, and cloud computing in 2010. ​‘Look at generative AI as the operating system, which gives you access to applications, just like browsers give you access to the Internet. Copilot will give you access to improved productivity and creativity, in-depth analysis, and enhanced scientific research,’ she said.

The power of the ecosystem

Artificial intelligence empowers everyone to achieve more – not just laborers but also functional business roles, security and IT professionals and developers. ​’42 per cent of code development is already done through Copilot. Every employee has different expectations of AI. Some want to find information and answers much faster, while others wish to summarize meetings or do creative work so they don’t need to start from a blank page. AI is helpful for making analytical work faster, planning your day or tackling administrative tasks.‘

But we’re not there yet, said Marijke. There’s an important step we must take together: unlearning the way we work to unleash our potential. I also believe that collaborating within an ecosystem will prove even more relevant than what you’ve seen before. Microsoft Copilot is just the base; the real power lies in the apps built on top of Copilot through connectors and plugins. These are not just tools; they’re opportunities for us to shape the future of work.’

​‘That’s just the beginning,’ she said, ​‘because these connectors can link Copilot with other platforms. This can be your ERP system, but also other databases, APIs and legal platforms. You can leverage Copilot’s power in your specific situation by integrating everything. It puts the user at the center: you’re using Teams, Outlook and Word, and you’ll use prompts or questions as you would in ChatGPT. The difference is that the results will be based on your own business data and contractual clauses. Thanks to the plugins and graph connectors, you will have links to your legal platform and have it all in a safe and secure setup.’