# The Microsoft AI stack

One picture: the model underneath, Copilot on top, agents beside it, your data behind it.

7 screens, about three minutes. Pictures, almost no words.

## One word doing too much work.

*Picture: One large box with the letters A I inside it.*

At work it usually means three separate things.

## Three floors.

*Picture: Three stacked boxes, from the bottom: the model, Copilot, agents.*

Each one sits on the one below it.

## The model has never seen your work.

*Picture: The same three boxes with the bottom one, the model, drawn in green.*

It read a great deal, none of it yours.

## Copilot is the model plus a door.

*Picture: The same boxes with Copilot in green, a tall dashed room to the right labelled your files, with arrows into it from the two upper boxes.*

The door leads to what your organisation already holds.

## An agent is Copilot with one job.

*Picture: The same picture with the top box, agents, in green and an amber padlock inside the room of files.*

Fewer keys, one task, one accountable person.

## Do today

Open Copilot at work and ask it which of your files it can see.

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More explainers: [/explain/](/explain/). Lessons: [/learn/](/learn/).
