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Microsoft 365 Blog
2 MIN READ

Unlock organizational knowledge with Topics in Copilot

Naomi Moneypenny's avatar
Nov 15, 2023

Microsoft Viva Topics enables your organization to discover, explore and easily contribute knowledge proactively inside of Microsoft 365 apps such as Outlook, SharePoint and Microsoft Teams. Today we are excited to announce that we are extending Topics functionality into Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365. Topics will ground your Copilot experience with knowledge from inside your organization, to bring the best of AI and crowdsourced knowledge & expertise to your flow of work. 

 

Ground, verify and discover knowledge & expertise 

With Copilot interoperation, Topics uses people and AI to create a powerful knowledge index for your organization that grounds Copilot. Organizations can update, augment, and create new topics to make it easier to connect to information and expertise. Topics enables users to understand what information is organizationally important through the use of a verified badge, while also providing guiderails for Copilot to find relevant content and conversations that enable a meaningful response:   

 

 

 

  

Guide & curate knowledge 

Organizational controls are available to select roles, scope and exclusions of knowledge indexing, compliance, and sensitivity. Like Copilot, Topics respects all existing privacy and permissions on your content. Knowledge managers in Topics can be assigned by administrators to manage topics and deliver curated topic cards ensuring the desired expertise and knowledge is available for users. Analytics to understand engagement, contribution and health of your knowledge network will also be available.  

 

 

 

 

Licensing 
Topics in Viva will remain available for users to purchase and use in the same way they do today. Organizations that have purchased Copilot will get access to Topics, which will show up for Copilot users inside of Outlook, SharePoint, Teams, Engage, profile cards and search to provide a blended experience organizations can have confidence in when using generative AI solutions. Organizations with Copilot can learn more about Topics here 

 

Roadmap 

Bringing Topics into Copilot represents the beginning of how knowledge and expertise is unlocked with the power of AI and people. Stay tuned for more information in the coming months via the Microsoft 365 roadmap as we discuss the next steps for Topics integration, proactive, personalized discovery and search improvements within Copilot. 

 

 

Updated Nov 15, 2023
Version 1.0
  • This is great news Naomi Moneypenny

    Can you clarify, does this mean orgs that have purchased Copilot will get the full Topics service too, at no additional cost?

  • Michel-Ehlert's avatar
    Michel-Ehlert
    Brass Contributor

    I have asked Microsoft Copilot if Topics will be free. It could not answer, but when I referenced this article, I got this answer: However, it’s important to note that Topics in Viva will remain available for users to purchase and use in the same way they do today. So, while Topics will be accessible to Copilot users, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it will be free with a Copilot license. For the most accurate and up-to-date information, I recommend checking the official Microsoft website or contacting Microsoft directly.

    So unless Microsoft confirms or denies we won't be sure yet :smile:

  • RobOK's avatar
    RobOK
    Bronze Contributor

    Can we clarify Licensing situation for CoPilot and Topics? Does CoPilot include Topics? I have created a lot of Topics (1 license) but we never deployed them. Will the created Topics show up for people with Copilot (but not Topics) license?

  • RobOK's avatar
    RobOK
    Bronze Contributor

    Sad to see, this could have been a good feature to breathe new life into Sharepoint. It should have been bundled with Sharepoint not an add on. Michel-Ehlert you ask a good question. I think the only answer is to build a custom AI chatbot with Copilot Studio and train it with specific documents.

     

    AI is going to kill formal knowledge management. Everyone will say the AI just figures it out, but really it doesn't. It doesn't know archived documents, old versions, discarded corporate initiatives. AI inside of companies will be a mess until we have ways of giving good feedback (more than just thumbs up and down)