FAST-04 Reading List: AI Productivity with Microsoft Copilot and Google Gemini

Provider: 7formations | Course: FAST-04 | Instructor: Wadood Chaudhary | Links verified by fetch or search as of Oct 2026

Most readings are vendor help and admin pages, because the course runs inside the employer's suite: read the Microsoft or Google item for your track. Each session also has one non-vendor reading on the risk the session addresses. Vendor pages change often; check the page date when you read.

How to use. Required readings take 20 to 45 minutes per session and are done before (or right after) the session they support. Optional readings go deeper. 'Living page' means the publisher updates it continuously; read the current version. Reading times are estimates for the parts that matter to this course, not the whole document.

Session 1: Inbox and calendar

Required

• Overview of Microsoft Copilot Chat
  Publisher: Microsoft Learn | Date: Living page | Reading time: about 10 min
  URL: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/copilot/overview
  Why read: What Microsoft Copilot Chat is and how it relates to the licensed Copilot that works with your mail and files.

• Summarize an email thread with Copilot in Outlook
  Publisher: Microsoft Support | Date: Living page | Reading time: about 8 min
  URL: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/copilot-pages/summarize-an-email-thread-with-copilot-in-outlook
  Why read: Microsoft track: summarizing threads and drafting replies in Outlook.

• Generative AI in Google Workspace Privacy Hub
  Publisher: Google Workspace Admin Help | Date: Living page | Reading time: about 12 min
  URL: https://knowledge.workspace.google.com/admin/generative-ai/generative-ai-in-google-workspace-privacy-hub
  Why read: Google track (and useful for everyone): how Gemini in Workspace handles your data and respects existing access controls.

Optional

• The Microsoft 365 app transition to the Microsoft Copilot app
  Publisher: Microsoft Support | Date: Living page | Reading time: about 5 min
  URL: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365-copilot/the-microsoft-365-app-transition-to-the-microsoft-365-copilot-app
  Why read: Microsoft's notice on the app rename to Microsoft Copilot; explains why screens and names differ from older guides.

• Data, Privacy, and Security for Microsoft Copilot
  Publisher: Microsoft Learn | Date: Living page | Reading time: about 12 min
  URL: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/copilot/microsoft-365-copilot-privacy
  Why read: How Copilot uses your organization's data within your permissions: the basis for 'it sees what you see'.

Session 2: Meetings

Required

• Catch up on meetings with Microsoft Copilot in Teams
  Publisher: Microsoft Support | Date: Living page | Reading time: about 8 min
  URL: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/teams/copilot/catch-up-on-meetings-with-microsoft-365-copilot-in-teams
  Why read: Microsoft track: catching up on meetings with Copilot in Teams, and what it needs (transcription or recording).

• General Laws Chapter 272, Section 99: Interception of wire and oral communications
  Publisher: The General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts | Date: Current statute text | Reading time: about 10 min
  URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIV/TitleI/Chapter272/Section99
  Why read: Massachusetts G.L. c. 272, §99, the statute on intercepting oral communications. Read the preamble on secret recording. Training context, not legal advice.

Optional

• When AI Gets It Wrong: Addressing AI Hallucinations and Bias
  Publisher: MIT Sloan Teaching & Learning Technologies | Date: Living page | Reading time: about 10 min
  URL: https://mitsloanedtech.mit.edu/ai/basics/addressing-ai-hallucinations-and-bias/
  Why read: Why AI outputs (including recaps) need checking; short and practical.

• Artificial Intelligence Risk Management Framework: Generative Artificial Intelligence Profile, NIST AI 600-1
  Publisher: NIST | Date: July 2024 | Reading time: about 20 min
  URL: https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/ai/NIST.AI.600-1.pdf
  Why read: NIST Generative AI Profile: skim 'confabulation' and 'information integrity'. Useful for explaining recap errors to managers.

Session 3: Documents and slides

Required

• Create a new presentation with Copilot in PowerPoint
  Publisher: Microsoft Support | Date: Living page | Reading time: about 8 min
  URL: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint/copilot/create-a-new-presentation-with-copilot-in-powerpoint
  Why read: Microsoft track: creating a presentation with Copilot in PowerPoint, including creating from a file.

• Google Workspace with Gemini Prompt Guide
  Publisher: Google Workspace | Date: Living page (guide updated periodically) | Reading time: about 20 min
  URL: https://workspace.google.com/learning/content/gemini-prompt-guide
  Why read: Google track: the Gemini for Workspace prompting guide with Docs and Slides examples by role.

Optional

• Draft, Analyze, and Present with Microsoft Copilot (MS-4018 learning path)
  Publisher: Microsoft Learn | Date: Living page | Reading time: about 60 min
  URL: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/paths/draft-analyze-present-microsoft-365-copilot/
  Why read: Microsoft Learn's free path on drafting, analyzing, and presenting with Copilot. Hands-on modules for Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.

• Plain language guide
  Publisher: Digital.gov (U.S. General Services Administration) | Date: Living page | Reading time: about 15 min
  URL: https://digital.gov/guides/plain-language
  Why read: Plain-language guidelines for audience rewrites.

Session 4: Spreadsheets and the playbook

Required

• Get started with Copilot in Excel
  Publisher: Microsoft Support | Date: Living page | Reading time: about 10 min
  URL: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/copilot/get-started-with-copilot-in-excel
  Why read: Microsoft track: getting started with Copilot in Excel, including formatting data as a table.

• Collaborate with Gemini in Google Sheets
  Publisher: Google Docs Editors Help | Date: Living page | Reading time: about 8 min
  URL: https://support.google.com/docs/answer/14356410
  Why read: Google track: working with Gemini in Google Sheets.

• Configure a secure and governed foundation for Microsoft Copilot
  Publisher: Microsoft Learn | Date: Living page | Reading time: about 15 min
  URL: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/copilot/configure-secure-governed-data-foundation-microsoft-365-copilot
  Why read: Microsoft's guidance for organizations on a secure, governed data foundation for Copilot: why oversharing matters and how admins find it. Share with IT.

Optional

• Security for Microsoft Copilot
  Publisher: Microsoft Learn | Date: Living page | Reading time: about 12 min
  URL: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/copilot/security-microsoft-copilot
  Why read: Security for Microsoft Copilot: permissions, data protection, and oversharing controls.

• Navigating the Jagged Technological Frontier (Dell'Acqua et al.), HBS Working Paper 24-013
  Publisher: Harvard Business School | Date: September 2023 | Reading time: about 20 min
  URL: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=64700
  Why read: Field experiment showing AI helps on some tasks and hurts on others: the reason the playbook measures each task separately.

• Generative AI at Work (Brynjolfsson, Li, and Raymond), NBER Working Paper 31161
  Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research | Date: April 2023 (revised) | Reading time: about 20 min
  URL: https://www.nber.org/papers/w31161
  Why read: Evidence on productivity gains from AI assistance at work; read the abstract and findings for context on time-saved claims.

Link verification

Links verified by fetch or search as of Oct 2026. Links that could not be confirmed were dropped and are not listed. The instructor re-checks links before each cohort.