Using 'trillions of anonymised productivity signals', Microsoft thinks nearly half of people like AI in their work

Recently, Microsoft put out a new blog that attempts to educate/sell the notion of AI in the workplace, and perhaps most strangely, it admits to using huge swathes of anonymised data in the process. The blog, titled "How Frontier firms are rebuilding the operating model for the age of AI", says that authors, editors, directors, and orchestrators will all see the benefits of AI once they start using it.

It's the "what the data shows" section that caught my eye, though. It declares Microsoft analysed "trillions of anonymised Microsoft 365 productivity signals and surveyed 20,000 workers using AI across 10 countries."

The main bulk of Microsoft's report comes from a 'privacy-preserving analysis' of over 100,000 chats in Microsoft 365 Copilot, and it found 49% of conversations support "cognitive work", and 58% of AI users say they now create work they couldn't have a year ago.

As part of this re...