Page 71 - MS Office 365 for Dummies 3rd Ed (2019)

You may not realize it, but AI has become an integral part of our daily lives. The technology drives our digital assistants to help us get our day started. They tell us what the weather will be like, how long our commute is going to be, and get us up to speed with the latest news. AI can even help us not run over our beloved dog while backing up our car in a hurry through the computer vision recognition in the cameras found in modern cars.
In Office 365, machine learning and AI is already built in to help personalize your experiences and enhance security. The following are examples of how you can incorporate bots in Exchange Online, the technology behind your email, contacts, and calendar.
Your very own AI personal assistant
People who are into gaming will know Cortana as an AI character in the Halo video game series. In Windows and Office 365, Cortana is your personal digital assistant that helps you accomplish simple tasks through programming codes called skills. To date, there are a number of Cortana skills available, ranging from money- saving tips from Progressive Insurance, to ordering pizza from Dominos, to con- trolling your home thermostat’s temperature with Nest.
One of the time-saving bots we’ve found that integrates with Outlook calendar is an AI called Calendar.help. What it does is help us schedule meetings with col- leagues, so instead of spending ten minutes rounding up everyone’s schedules, all we need to do is simply send an email to a colleague we want to meet with and copy the Cortana bot with instructions for the meeting written as if we were talk- ing to an assistant. The bot does such a good job; a couple of colleagues actually thought Cortana was a real person!
Here’s how you can integrate the Calendar.help bot in Outlook to have an AI per- sonal assistant. Please note that the Calendar.help bot is in preview so the name may change by the time this book is published. While in preview, you can sign up and get on the waitlist. In our experience, by signing up with three valid Office 365 accounts, our request was approved within minutes.
1. Gotohttps://calendar.help.
2. SignupforCalender.helpwithavalidOffice365account.
You will get an email when the bot is ready to assist you.
3. Toscheduleameeting,sendanemailtothepersonyouwanttomeet with and add cortana@calendar.help in the Cc: line.
CHAPTER 4 Being Productive, Staying Secure 55