Firelands Computer Services Blog

How do your team really feel about using AI at work?

Are they excited?

Nervous?

Maybe a bit of both?

A new study has revealed just how widespread AI has become in the workplace. And how mixed people’s feelings still are about it.

Four in five workers now use some kind of AI tool in their day-to-day role. More than half are using AI assistants regularly to save time. But that doesn’t mean everyone’s comfortable with it.

Some employees worry they’ll be seen as lazy or untrustworthy for leaning on AI. Others feel judged or second-guessed by colleagues when they do.

It’s a strange situation. People trust AI to help them, but they don’t always trust how others will react to them using it.

The truth is, AI is here to support people. It’s important to see AI as a partner. A tool to help us focus on what we do best. To focus on strategy, creativity, and problem-solving.

But for that to happen, people need to feel confident using it. And that’s where many businesses are falling behind.

Only one in three workers have had any formal AI training. Most are figuring it out by trial and error. And that can lead to uncertainty, mistakes, and mistrust.

Managers tend to feel more confident (around 70%), but that confidence drops sharply among junior staff, where only about a third feel the same way.

So what’s the solution?

Like many other things, it starts with culture. Business owners and managers need to create an environment where experimenting with AI is encouraged, not judged.

Show your team that using AI tools isn’t cheating. It’s smart working.

Give them opportunities to learn, whether through formal training, internal workshops, or simple “show and tell” sessions where people share how they’re using AI to make their jobs easier.

AI confidence doesn’t happen overnight. But when people feel supported and trusted they’re far more likely to embrace it. That’s when you start to see results, like better efficiency, more creativity, and a team that’s ready for whatever the future of work brings.

Be honest, how many times have you lost a Word document because you forgot to hit “Save”?

We’ve all been there.

The power cuts out, your laptop crashes, or you just close the window too fast… and hours of work vanish in an instant.

Well, Microsoft’s decided that enough is enough. From now on, new Word documents will automatically save straight to your OneDrive cloud storage. Autosave will be turned on by default.

That means your work is backed up instantly. And you can pick up where you left off from any device.

Accidentally close the file? No problem, it’s sitting safely in the cloud.

For anyone who’s ever lost an important report, proposal, or invoice, that sounds like a dream come true. Right?

But not everyone’s cheering just yet.

Some people aren’t comfortable with every new document automatically being uploaded to the cloud. They’d rather decide for themselves where a file should live. Especially if it contains sensitive information.

There’s also the question of privacy.

While Microsoft says your files are secure and only accessible to you, some people simply prefer keeping their work stored locally, where they feel more in control.

In fairness, Microsoft isn’t locking you in. You can turn this feature off and go back to saving files manually if you prefer.

But for many, this change could slip by unnoticed. Word will just quietly back everything up for you without asking.

It’s a big shift, and it says a lot about where Microsoft’s heading. The company wants to make OneDrive the central hub for your files, and with new Copilot AI features coming to it, that makes sense.

Soon you’ll be able to ask Copilot to find, summarize, or even edit your documents directly from OneDrive. There will be no need to dig through folders or filenames.

So, is this update a terrible idea or a great one?

It depends on how you like to work.

If you value simplicity, peace of mind, and automatic backups, it’s a fantastic move. But if you prefer a little more control and privacy, it might feel like Word’s making decisions for you.

Either way, one thing’s certain: The days of losing your unsaved masterpiece are numbered.

Ever found yourself juggling between Gmail, Outlook, and a dozen browser tabs just to find one email or check a meeting time?

It’s the kind of digital chaos most of us have learned to live with… until now.

Microsoft’s AI assistant, Copilot, is about to make life a lot easier. Thanks to a new Windows update, Copilot can now connect directly to your Gmail and Google Calendar, as well as your Microsoft accounts like Outlook and OneDrive.

That means, if you choose to turn it on, Copilot can search across both ecosystems to help you get things done faster.

Can’t remember when you last emailed a client? Just ask, “When did I last speak to Sarah?” Copilot will find it. Even if that message was buried in Gmail.

Need to plan next week’s schedule? It can check both your Outlook and Google calendars so you don’t double-book yourself.

Of course, you’re always in control. Copilot only accesses what you give it permission to. If you’d rather keep your accounts separate, that’s perfectly fine. It’ll keep working just as it always has within the Microsoft tools you already use.

But if you do choose to connect your Google account, it could be a real time saver. It’s one of the first times we’ve seen Microsoft’s technology work with Google’s instead of competing against it. If you mix and match apps from both sides, you’ll know that’s a big deal.

Away from searching and scheduling, Copilot is becoming a powerful creation tool. You can ask it to turn a few notes into a Word document, build a PowerPoint presentation, or even generate a polished PDF, all without opening a single extra app.

Longer responses from Copilot now include an “export” button so you can instantly send its output into the format you need.

The update has rolled out to Windows Insiders (Microsoft’s group of early testers) via the Microsoft Store, but it won’t stay there for long. This is clearly the direction Microsoft’s heading: Fewer apps, fewer steps, and more time to focus on actual work.

There is, however, one big question hanging over all of this. How much do you trust your AI assistant?

Linking Copilot to Gmail and your calendar means giving it access to some very personal data. Microsoft stresses that you stay in charge and your data isn’t used to train its AI, but it’s still worth thinking about before you click connect.

For many, the convenience outweighs the worry. It’s great to see we’re heading towards a world where your tools finally work together, not against each other.

Language barriers have always limited what we can get out of online content.

Training videos, webinars, or product launches are only useful if you understand the language they’re in.

But that could soon change.

Microsoft is testing a new AI-powered audio translation feature in its Edge browser.

It can translate the spoken words in a video into another language in real time, swapping the original audio for a translated version.

Now, it’s limited to just a few languages. English, Spanish, and Korean. But it gives us a glimpse of how AI could make global content much more accessible.

Here’s how it works…

Once enabled in Edge’s settings, a small floating bar appears on supported sites (YouTube is one example).

When you start a video in another language, Edge automatically generates a translated audio track, muting the original.

The result is that you hear the video in your chosen language almost instantly.

There are some limitations right now though.

The feature requires a powerful computer. At least 12 GB of memory and a modern processor. It’s not going to run well on low-spec devices.

Accuracy can also vary, with occasional hiccups like extra voices or imperfect phrasing.

But given that this is still a preview, it’s impressive progress.

The potential here is huge.

International training materials, partner presentations, or even industry insights in other languages could become immediately useful without waiting for subtitles or professional translations.

It opens doors to faster learning, wider collaboration, and easier access to knowledge from around the world.

Real-time translation could help businesses think and work more globally than ever before.

If you’d like to learn more about the other productivity tools Microsoft offers, get in touch.

New: You decide what Copilot remembers

How much do you want AI to remember about you?

That’s the question Microsoft’s beginning to answer with a big new update to Copilot.

Up until now, Copilot has been useful for quick tasks. Summarizing text, drafting emails, or answering questions. But it doesn’t really hold onto much about you.

Every time you start fresh, it’s almost like meeting it for the first time. That limits how “personal” it can ever feel.

But now that’s changing.

Microsoft is adding memory management to Copilot. That means you’ll have more control over what it remembers.

You can explicitly tell it to “remember this”, and in upcoming updates you’ll get a full memory management page where you can see exactly what’s stored.

Then you can either edit or delete details whenever you like.

In other words, Copilot can build up useful context about you and your business, but you stay firmly in control of what it keeps and what it forgets.

Why does this matter?

Think about the time saved if Copilot could remember the way your team writes reports, the names of your key clients, or the formats you prefer for proposals.

Instead of re-explaining the same information repeatedly, you could just get on with the work.

And if something changes, say a client’s details or your preferred style, you can update or clear that memory instantly.

There’s another important piece to this update too: Connectors.

Copilot can already link to OneDrive. Soon it will be able to connect to Google Drive as well.

That means you’ll be able to ask Copilot to fetch documents, summarize a folder of files, or even surface insights from stored data without opening each file manually.

Over time, more services are expected to be added, giving businesses a much more joined-up way to work with their information.

These features are rolling out across the web, Windows 11, and mobile devices, with some likely to be free and others possibly reserved for Copilot’s paid tier in the future.

Copilot is moving towards being a smarter, more personal assistant that learns from you, while keeping you in the driver’s seat.

And that balance could be key.

The more Copilot remembers, the more useful it becomes. But the fact that you get to decide what it keeps means you can take advantage of that power without sacrificing control.

If you’d like to see what Copilot could do for your business, get in touch.