Deep Experience with Copilot

Translated from Chinese.

Preface

I only have a junior college degree, and I work as a lighting product manager — a field completely unrelated to AI. Yet that is precisely where the value lies: if I can do it, so can you.

From March 6, 2026, when I first encountered Copilot, until now, I have deeply experienced Copilot Chat, with over 10 million Chinese characters of interactive text. I have also deeply experienced Copilot Tasks, with over 1.5 million Chinese characters of interactive text. At the same time, I have conducted extensive interactions on both Gemini and Deepseek. This has given me a very deep hands-on understanding of AI.

Currently, I use AI extensively in my daily life, and it effectively improves my work efficiency. If you are interested in these aspects, you can follow me.

What Is AI? A Machine That Thinks

My conclusion is this: AI is a machine that thinks. You can understand AI as "a person who can think and has extremely broad knowledge." It can turn you into a "beginner" in a field within ten minutes, and a "knowledgeable person" in that industry within an hour. For example, I spent an hour understanding the wedding industry chain: ceremonies, wedding dresses, wedding photos, wedding planning, hotels… which parts are essential needs, and which are "IQ taxes."

If you searched for this content yourself, you would be drowned in the noise of fragmented information across the internet. In contrast, AI can help you integrate and build structured knowledge in a short time. Throw these questions at AI, go back and forth a few times, and you will feel the efficiency of learning with AI.

But we must also be careful: not everything that looks smart is AI. Although many things online claim to be "AI-powered," some are just fixed logic — for example, turning on the heater when it gets cold. That is just a program. AI, on the other hand, does not require you to write rules. You only need to say, "the temperature has changed, you should take corresponding measures." It will think for itself, integrate knowledge, and then tell you whether you should put on clothes or turn on the air conditioner — both are possible.

It can think — that is the real AI. Much of what is called AI on the market today is essentially just automation. Food assembly lines could operate automatically decades ago. Would you call that AI as well?

Image generated by AI

Will AI Replace My Job? Transform into a "Car Driver" of the New Era

Many people worry that AI will become so powerful in the future that it will replace them. But in fact, history has already presented us with such an era many times — for example, the advent of the steam engine, the automobile, and automation. Society still progressed, and the population continued to grow.

Take the transition from the horse-drawn carriage era as an example. The automobile replaced the "carrying value" of the horse, not the horse itself. Nor did carriage drivers disappear the moment cars appeared. Instead, some of them transitioned into becoming car drivers.

AI will not replace you. But it will be used by those willing to learn to replace "the you who does not learn." A few years from now, if you only complain that "AI took away my job" — what does that have to do with AI? AI has an extremely low learning cost and improves very quickly. There is no need to feel too much pressure. Starting to learn now is not late at all.

Image generated by AI

Learning AI: How You Express Yourself Matters More

From my experience and journey, I can tell you directly — learning AI has nothing to do with knowledge of programming, math, English, or similar subjects. Using AI well requires more of an ability to express yourself, rather than specific domain knowledge. Over‑relying on deterministic thinking, when facing large language models with emergent and fuzzy properties, becomes a self‑limiting constraint.

As long as you can speak, AI will break down and process your requests on its own. I cannot write code. I only tell it, "I want this effect," and it can achieve it. This may sound a bit mystical right now. AI is not a magical dragon — it cannot fulfill your wish of "give me 1 million dollars." But if you say, "give me a picture of a dog," AI can still do that.

Is Using AI Safe? How to Balance Efficiency and Security

Here we need to discuss how AI works. AI generates content based on: the information you provide + world knowledge + reasoning. If you reveal too much and are overly vigilant at the same time, you will perceive it as dangerous.

You are wearing the uniform of a well‑known local company, speaking the local dialect. If you also casually mention your commuting route and how long it takes, a person with strong reasoning skills could even accurately guess which residential complex you live in. You think they are "watching you," but in fact, all that information was voluntarily provided by you.

As for privacy concerns, that varies by platform. AI is a category, not a single product. Security depends on the platform you choose. Just like cloud storage, social media apps, or even mobile phones — who can be 100% certain they will never be attacked? The main point I want to make is that AI is just one form of software. If you are truly very worried, the best approach is simply not to give AI any important information.

Are AI's Answers Accurate? Understand the Boundary Between Restructuring and Inference

Many people who lack independent thinking treat everything AI says as gospel. In reality, the way (text‑based) AI works can be roughly divided into two types:

1. Restructuring and summarization — this is the most basic capability. The information here all comes from existing knowledge. AI is merely performing a summary.
2. Inference and guessing — this is AI's core capability. It makes guesses and inferences about phenomena based on existing knowledge and patterns. But it is only inference, not reality.

Example: I buy a bag of apples. AI thinks about this bag of apples.

• Restructuring and summarization: This bag of apples weighs 2 kg. It contains 10 apples. 9 are ripe, and 1 is not yet ripe enough. This is a summarizable reality.
• Inference and guessing: These apples are all sweet and taste good. This part is entirely inference and guessing. Because no one has tasted them — even if one apple is sweet, there is no way to guarantee every single apple is sweet.

Regarding control over AI's information, users must have their own standard of judgment. If truly unsure, ask AI to provide the source of the information.

Conclusion: Understand the Car Before the Streets Are Full of Cars

AI is truly a beneficial tool of our time. It is very useful and very quick to learn. In the future, its importance may become as great as the internet's. And right now, AI is still in its early stages. If you want to learn, now is a very good time.

Just like the earlier example of the horse‑drawn carriage and the car. When you see a car, you should already consider learning about it — not wait until the streets are full of cars before you think about acquiring knowledge related to them.