From Copilot Adoption to Copilot Fluency

From Copilot Adoption to Copilot FluencyFull Show Notes: https://www.theintelligenceagepodcast.com/847Mark Smith catches up with Cadie Kneip from Microsoft, a returning guest. Her focus has moved from getting people to adopt Copilot to building Copilot fluency, so using AI becomes automatic in daily work. They cover personal Copilot habits and resistance to AI. They also cover how agents are changing everyday workflows, which Microsoft tools to use for what, and what Cadie is looking forward to over the rest of 2026.Key topics and takeawaysFrom adoption to fluency: Fluency means using Copilot naturally, without thinking, like reaching for your phone to check flights. The aim is to make Copilot a habit in your workflow.AI as the first stop: Mark rarely uses Google now. He goes to voice-mode AI, which knows his local context. He uses Copilot for personal topics because he controls his own tenant.Talking ideas out with AI: Voice conversations, asking the AI to play devil's advocate and asking it to "tell me why I'm wrong" help you probe your own thinking. AI tends to tell us what we want to hear.Why people resist AI: Mark cites a figure that 82% of Americans dislike AI or resist it. Cadie puts a lot of it down to loud, clickbait negativity and to fear about identity and jobs. Her answer is to focus on what's possible and on the human value of judgment and point of view.Agents beyond chatbots: Workshops on reimagining workflows start with the tasks people hate most. Cadie automated her weekly Credly badge process with Scout, saving hours each week.Scout vs. Cowork: Scout suits repeatable execution and an "executive assistant" style of work. Cowork suits work that needs strong context from Work IQ, which draws on your Microsoft Graph. Cowork has improved a lot and now offers model selection.Auto vs. picking models: Cadie starts on auto and switches models when results disappoint. Mark always picks his own. They also talk about Microsoft's own models and image generation.What builds fluency: Prompting skill matters less now. The tipping point is building a simple agent in Agent Builder and seeing how it works behind the scenes. People then move on to Copilot Studio and pro-code tools.Looking ahead: Cadie wants her team to each have at least one AI-improved workflow, and she's curious what people will do with the time they get back. They also joke about household robots.If you want to get in touch with me, you can message me here on Linkedin.Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith