AI Doesn’t Need to Be Fancy—Just Watch This | Microsoft DC Innovation Hub

Episode 23 of the Guardians of M365 Governance had Joy back from an epic trip across Greece, Egypt, Cyprus, and Turkey (Kusadasi stole her heart, apparently), and we welcomed Jay Leask to the show. Jay’s a Principal Solution Engineer Hub – yes, “hub” is actually in his title – at Microsoft’s Washington DC Innovation Hub. But here’s the real kicker: Jay co-hosts a podcast called “AI for Average Intelligence,” which begs the question: Are we deconstructing AI for people of average intelligence, or is AI itself just… average intelligence? You decide.

The Magic of the Mundane

Jay’s core message hit home immediately: Stop trying to use AI to solve world hunger when it can’t even help you mark spam in your inbox. The Innovation Hub sees customers walking in wanting AI to tackle their organization’s biggest challenges, when really, the sweet spot is solving those small, repetitive tasks that everyone does. Imagine saving 100 people an hour and a half each day just by automating something “average.” That’s not average – that’s transformational.

The 10-Minute Meeting Miracle

Here’s Jay’s origin story with generative AI: A two-hour meeting with a colleague named Brendan Colburn, where they tested Microsoft’s early meeting transcription tool. Jay, being the meticulous note-taker he is, kept his own notes while the AI did its thing. At the end? The AI caught something he missed. They saved 10 minutes of “wait, pause while I type this” moments.

Do the math: 10 minutes per two-hour meeting. How many meetings are you in per month? (Greater than four, Jay would say with a grin.) Multiply that by your salary. There’s your ROI. There’s your $50-a-month Copilot license, justified.

Talking to AI Like You Talk to a Teenager

One of Jay’s best analogies: Using generative AI is like talking to a teenager or an intern. Tell your 13-year-old to “clean your room” and you’ll get… varied results depending on the moon cycle and whether the cat is sitting on their lap. But give them specific instructions – laundry in the basket, desk cleared, bed made – and you’ll get what you asked for. That’s prompt engineering in a nutshell.

Jay demonstrated this brilliantly by literally having a conversation with Copilot about finding taco places in Arlington. Voice-to-text. Three minutes. Copilot knew his location, understood his budget, recommended street tacos, and gave him reviews and prices without him having to open five different apps. Search isn’t just about finding documents anymore – it’s about getting context and information about the results, not just a list of links.

The Search Revolution We Didn’t Know We Needed

Here’s the technical bit that got Ragnar excited: Copilot’s search is different from standard Microsoft 365 search. It’s using semantic indexing and vectorized searches (Jay promised to double-check, because keeping up with AI changes is like drinking from a fire hose). The old keyword-based search? Adequate. The new context-aware, vectorized approach? Better. More precise. More granular.

You Don’t Need to Keep Up (And That’s Okay)

The million-dollar question: How do you keep up with everything happening in AI? Jay’s refreshingly honest answer: You don’t. The average person will go crazy trying. Even administrators shouldn’t try to keep up with everything – just keep up with the relevant parts and surround yourself with people who know the other pieces. Or, you know, ask Copilot what’s new with Copilot. Meta, but effective.

The Snackable Takeaway

Jay and Craig are keeping their “AI for Average Intelligence” podcast episodes to 15-20 minutes because, let’s be real, while the four of us could talk all day, most people want bite-sized, actionable content. Just like those social media shorts that perform so well – give people the good stuff, skip the boring bits.

Bottom line? AI doesn’t need to be fancy. It needs to be useful. And if it saves you 10 minutes per meeting, catches the email you almost missed, or finds you the perfect street taco spot in under three minutes, it’s already worth it. That’s AI for average intelligence – and honestly, that’s exactly what most of us need.

Want to dive deeper? Check out Jay’s podcast “AI for Average Intelligence” at aka.ms/averageintel, and catch the full Episode 23 discussion on the Guardians of M365 Governance channel. And if you’re in Northern Virginia, don’t miss the M365 Community Conference – details at aka.ms/m365dc

Ready to implement proper AI agent governance? Contact me, Ragnar Heil, for a consultation on Microsoft Purview and Agent 365 deployment strategies tailored to your organization’s needs. Find my calendar here at our HanseVision Governance Landing Page. 

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