On Windows, OneDrive is built right into the operating system. Even if you don’t turn it on, it will pop up occasionally, asking you to “back up your files to the cloud.” What that really means, of course, is that Microsoft wants you to move your folders to OneDrive.
I’m not here to knock OneDrive. I use OneDrive — I think the 1TB of storage offered as part of Microsoft 365 subscriptions is a great deal. Even so, sometimes OneDrive still gets on my nerves. If you don’t use it, there’s a good chance you find it really annoying. (That may be why I get a lot of questions about OneDrive from readers of my Windows Intelligence newsletter.)
There’s some good news, though: Microsoft has improved some of OneDrive’s worst pain points. In recent updates, some long-standing annoyances — like glitchy remnants of OneDrive sticking around in File Explorer after you uninstall it — have been addressed. But the service can still be exasperating in a variety of ways.
Here’s how to take control of OneDrive, whether you want to make it less of a pest or remove it entirely from your Windows 10 or Windows 11 PC.
OneDrive Windows fix #1: Enable local file storage
By default, OneDrive likes to download files “on demand.” That can be convenient — after all, you might have up to 1TB of files in your OneDrive account if you’re taking advantage of that Microsoft 365 storage. All of that data wouldn’t even fit on many laptops.
But perhaps you want to ensure all your files are on your PC, so you can quickly access them without waiting for OneDrive to download them every single time. Or maybe you just want to ensure they’re downloaded before you remove OneDrive.
Whatever the case, to make all your OneDrive files always available offline, open File Explorer, right-click the OneDrive folder in the left sidebar, and select “Always keep on this device.” OneDrive will download everything and ensure that future files stay downloaded. This might use a lot of disk space, of course, depending on how many files you have stored in OneDrive — but it can certainly be done.
You’ll find the “Always keep on this device” in File Explorer’s context menu on both Windows 10 and Windows 11.
Chris Hoffman, IDG
You can monitor the progress of any downloads from the OneDrive system tray icon. Just click it, and you’ll see what OneDrive is doing.
If you have a lot of files in OneDrive and you don’t want them all to sync to your PC, you can first select “Account” in the left sidebar of that area, click “Choose folders,” and then choose exactly which folders you do want to sync. Any folders you uncheck will be ignored by OneDrive — stored in the cloud, but not on your PC.
OneDrive Windows fix #2: Turn off folder backup
Windows offers to “back up” your important folders to OneDrive, and it can get pretty pushy about this. In fact, Windows might sometimes simply decide to use OneDrive folders for everything when you set up a new PC, without even asking.
When you enable “folder backup,” that actually means “moving your folders to OneDrive.” In other words, when you enable folder backup for your Documents folder, Windows moves it from C:\Users\Name\Documents to C:\Users\Name\OneDrive\Documents. When you disable folder backup, Windows should move the Documents folder back to its original location.
You can turn off backups for each individual folder, too. If you do, OneDrive won’t automatically sync any other folders. It will only sync files you put directly in the OneDrive folder, giving you more control. This will also use less OneDrive storage space, as you won’t have to sync every random file that ends up in your Documents folder — that might be a big help if you’re on the free tier of OneDrive and only have 5GB of storage.
This is also a critical step to take before uninstalling OneDrive if you plan to remove it from Windows (more on that in a moment). It ensures your user data folders — such as Downloads, Documents, and Pictures — are all in their original locations.
To turn off folder backup, open OneDrive settings from the system tray icon: Look for the cloud-shaped OneDrive icon, right-click it, and select “Settings.” Under Sync and backup, click the “Manage backup” button. You can turn off folder backup for a folder by flipping the switch to the right of the folder. If you don’t want to use folder backup at all, disable it for each folder, one by one, and then click “Save changes.”
OneDrive may bug you to enable folder backup, but you can turn it off.
Chris Hoffman, IDG
Disabling folder backup should move your Documents, Pictures, Desktop, Music, and Videos folders back to their original locations outside of the OneDrive folder. But you might want to double-check to ensure this worked properly and all your files are where you expect them to be before you continue.
OneDrive Windows fix #3: Stop automatic image syncing
By default, OneDrive also automatically pulls in photos and screenshots — even if you have folder backup turned off for your Pictures folder.
If you’d like to stop this, ensure the “Save photos and videos from devices” and “Save screenshots I capture to OneDrive” options are turned off under Sync and backup.
There’s a good chance you already store photos in Google Photos or Apple iCloud — which means you may not want them in OneDrive, too.
Chris Hoffman, IDG
OneDrive Windows fix #4: Disable Office defaults
Office apps such as Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint default to saving files to OneDrive. It’s convenient if you want access to your documents across your devices, but it’s obnoxious if you’d rather store them on your own PC — or perhaps with another cloud storage service.
To force Office apps to stop saving documents to OneDrive by default, open an Office app (like Word), click “File” on the ribbon, and click “Options.” Select “Save” in the sidebar, check “Save to Computer by default,” and choose the preferred folder where you want to save files.
There’s no need to click away from OneDrive each time you save a file — just change this setting.
Chris Hoffman, IDG
One important note: The Office “AutoSave” feature only works when saving files to OneDrive or SharePoint. If you start defaulting to local storage, you won’t have AutoSave anymore; instead, you’ll have to click the “Save” button yourself, as in older versions of Office.
That said, Office’s AutoRecover feature can still help. It’ll automatically save backup copies of your documents so you can recover them if anything crashes. To ensure it’s activated, click File > Options > Save. Ensure the “Save AutoRecover information” option is checked and choose a frequency — like five or 10 minutes.
You can also quickly save a document to your computer’s local storage, even if you have OneDrive as the default save location. Just press the F12 key in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint to quickly open a traditional “Save As” dialog.
OneDrive Windows fix #5: Eliminate OneDrive entirely
You can just uninstall OneDrive if you don’t use it on either Windows 10 and Windows 11. This wasn’t always possible: In the early days of Windows 10, you ended up with a broken “OneDrive” entry in File Explorer’s sidebar if you uninstalled it normally and then had to edit the registry to fix it. That’s fixed; Microsoft has made the uninstaller work properly.
Before you do this, be sure you’ve disabled folder backup with the instructions above. That way, your folders will be stored on your PC instead of in OneDrive. If you uninstall OneDrive without turning off folder backup, they’ll remain in your OneDrive folder, and things can get messy.
With that step out of the way, you can uninstall OneDrive as you would any other application. Just open the Settings app and find the list of installed apps or launch the Control Panel and choose “Uninstall a Program.” (If you ever change your mind, you can reinstall OneDrive by downloading the installer from Microsoft’s website.)
Look for “Microsoft OneDrive” in the list and uninstall it. That’s it. OneDrive will vanish from File Explorer and your system tray. It won’t be running in the background, starting at boot, or syncing files at all anymore.
You can uninstall OneDrive in just a few quick clicks.
Chris Hoffman, IDG
Also worth noting: When you uninstall OneDrive, you won’t actually lose any files. Any files you have in OneDrive will remain accessible at onedrive.com and in OneDrive apps on your other devices.
And any files you’ve locally downloaded — that should be all of them, if you followed the steps above — will still be stored on your PC. This process just “unlinks” OneDrive and your computer.
Your OneDrive folder itself will remain on your PC, too, with any offline copies of your files, but it won’t sync again unless you reinstall OneDrive.
Want more Windows PC tips and tricks? Sign up for my free Windows Intelligence newsletter today. I’ll send you three new things to try each Friday and free in-depth Windows Field Guides as a special welcome gift.
For decades, Microsoft Office has been the business world’s dominant productivity software suite. If you use word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, and email applications, particularly on Windows, those apps are very likely to be Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.
In the 2010s, Microsoft began selling the Office suite under two models: the traditionally licensed, “perpetual” version, where you purchase the software and own it forever, and a new subscription-based version where you pay a monthly or annual fee to use the software and receive frequent updates and new feature rollouts. With the perpetual version, you only pay once, but you don’t get new features unless you purchase a later Office version.
Microsoft strongly pushes customers toward the subscription version, initially called Office 365 and now rebranded as Microsoft 365. But the company has continued to release new perpetual versions of the Office suite, typically containing a subset of the features and apps available in Microsoft 365, about once every three years. Many businesses and individuals still prefer the old model and today use either Office 2021 or Office 2024, the two latest perpetual-license releases.
Over these two releases, Microsoft has added or updated several features and tools that enhance the way you work with your documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and emails. In this cheat sheet, we go over the most useful new features in the four core Office apps. We’ll start with tips that apply across the Office suite and move on to the individual apps, noting which features are available in Office 2024 but not Office 2021.
Note: This guide refers specifically to the Office 2021 and 2024 desktop apps for Windows. If you have a Microsoft 365 subscription, see our separate cheat sheets for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook in M365.
The co-authoring feature in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint lets you and your co-workers collaborate on a document simultaneously. In real time, everyone can see all changes being made to the document as they happen.
Co-authoring was available in the Word 2019 desktop app, but Excel and PowerPoint users without a Microsoft 365 subscription had to use the web apps for real-time collaboration. With Office 2021 and 2024, real-time co-authoring is finally available in all three desktop apps.
Save your document in OneDrive
To use co-authoring, your document needs to be stored in OneDrive. If it’s not already, open the document in Excel, PowerPoint, or Word. On the Ribbon toolbar at the top, click the File tab. On the page that appears, select Save a Copy in the left pane. Click on your OneDrive account to open File Explorer, then select a folder in your OneDrive to save the document into.
If your OneDrive account isn’t listed on this page, click Add a Place under “Other locations” and add your OneDrive account.
Share your document
Next, share your document with your co-workers: Click the Share button at the upper right of the screen, and then click Share… on the menu that appears.
On the panel that opens, type in co-workers’ names or email addresses for people in your contacts. Click the pencil icon to set access permissions to your document — whether recipients will be able to edit it or only view it. (Enterprise users may have additional options or restrictions as set by their IT admins.) Add an optional message describing what you’re sharing and click Send. They’ll get an email inviting them to click a link to join in on collaborating on your document.
Sharing a document with co-workers.
Howard Wen / Foundry
Alternatively, on this share panel, you can generate a link to your document that you can then paste elsewhere (e.g., in an email or messaging app). When someone clicks this link, they’ll have access to either edit or view your document.
See others working on your document
When there are multiple people working on a document, each person’s presence is indicated by a flagged cursor that has a color unique to them. At the upper right of the screen, colored circles show the headshots or initials of your co-workers who presently have your document opened.
Three co-workers collaborating live on a Word doc.
Howard Wen / Foundry
If a co-worker is typing or making changes to your document, you’ll see their colored cursor perform these actions in real time.
Use the modern comments feature effectively
The comments feature was updated in Office 2021 with enhancements such as threaded discussions and text formatting options (bold, bullet points, italics, etc.). The user experience is designed to be similar and seamless across the desktop app and web versions of Excel, PowerPoint, and Word.
Comments now have threading and text formatting options.
Howard Wen / Foundry
Add a comment
Highlight a passage of text and right-click on it. Or right-click an area in your document, or a cell in a spreadsheet or table, where you want to add a comment. On the menu that opens, click New Comment.
A blank comment card will open. Type in a brief comment and click the right arrow on the lower right of the card to post your comment. A word balloon icon will appear at the appropriate place in the document.
As you’re writing a comment, you can mention a co-worker in it: Type the @ symbol, followed by their name or email address. If they’re in your contacts, a dropdown will appear with suggestions; select their name from the list. Once you’ve posted the comment, they’ll be sent a notification alerting that you’ve mentioned them in it.
View a comment, reply to it, resolve it, or delete it
To see a comment, click its word balloon icon in the document. This opens the comment card associated with it in the right margin. Type in your reply and click the right arrow to post it.
If you click the three-dot icon to the right of the commenter’s name, you can take various actions on the comment, such as copying a link to it, marking the comment thread as resolved, or deleting the thread.
You can reply to a comment or take actions on it, such as marking the thread resolved.
Howard Wen / Foundry
View and manage all comments in a document
At the top of the screen, click the Review tab, then click the down arrow at the right edge of the Show Comments button on the toolbar. On the menu that opens, clicking Contextual will open all the comment cards in the document, with each card appearing to the right of the comment’s location in the document.
Clicking List opens the Comments pane along the right of the screen with all the comments grouped together at the top. On this pane, you can conveniently scroll through and manage all the comments in the document at once, replying, resolving, or deleting them.
The Comments pane lets you view and manage all the comments in a document at once.
Howard Wen / Foundry
If you click on a comment in the Comments pane, you’ll be taken to its location in the document. You can also click the funnel icon to filter the comments — for example, viewing only the comments that you’re @ mentioned in.
Word: Use Line Focus to concentrate
As you read or edit your document in Word, the Line Focus feature can help you focus better on specific lines of text by eliminating everything around it in your document.
To activate Line Focus, click the View tab at the top. On the toolbar, click Immersive Reader. Then click the Immersive Reader tab that appears to the right of the Help tab. On the toolbar that opens, click Line Focus and select the number of lines of text that you want to focus on.
The lines of text in your document above and below the cursor will dim. To move the visible area up or down, click the up or down arrows along the right of the screen, press the arrow keys on your keyboard, or use your mouse to move the cursor.
The Line Focus feature removes distractions, letting you focus on a few lines of text.
Howard Wen / Foundry
To adjust the readability options to your liking, click the Immersive Reader tab, and on the toolbar that opens, click the Column Width, Page Color, and/or Text Spacing buttons.
Excel: Create dynamic arrays and charts
Dynamic arrays are available in Excel 2021 and 2024. Dynamic charts require Excel 2024.
Traditionally, Excel formulas and functions could return only a single value. If you wanted more values returned from your data, you had to copy the formula into a new cell. But new dynamic arrays let you write one formula and have it return multiple values. Dynamic arrays automatically update and resize themselves when their source data is updated.
In Office 2024, Excel takes dynamic arrays a step further, letting you create dynamic charts based on them.
Set up your data as a table
Enter your data into cells. You should have a column that lists categories and at least one column to its right listing corresponding values. Each column should have a header at the top.
An example: If you’re putting together a budget for a business trip, Column A could list expense items (plane tickets, hotel, car rental, etc.), while Column B could list the cost for each item on the same row.
To turn the data into a table, select the column headers and full range of data in Columns A and B. At the top of the spreadsheet, click the Insert tab and click Table on the toolbar. Click OK.
Put your data in table format.
Howard Wen / Foundry
Use a dynamic array function on the table
You can use a dynamic array function such as FILTER, SORT, or UNIQUE to create a dynamic array next to your table. These functions allow you to dynamically filter, sort, and manipulate your data in the table.
For our example we’ll use the FILTER function. Enter the following formula into cell D1:
=FILTER(A2:B9, B2:B9 < 2000)
This creates a new data range that lists items from column A (“A2:A9” means column A, rows 2 to 9) where the corresponding costs in Column B (“B2:B9”) are below $2,000 (“2000”).
The FILTER function created a data array showing only the items with costs below $2,000.
Howard Wen / Foundry
Even though the formula lives only in cell D1, the dynamic array it produces spills over into cells D1 through E6. If the source data changes — for instance, if you add a new item that costs less than $2,000 to the original table, or reduce the cost of an existing item to less than $2,000 — the dynamic array automatically updates and resizes itself to accommodate the changes. Because of this, the dynamic array is always up to date.
Similarly, you can use the SORT function to sort selected data and the UNIQUE function to remove duplicates, with the resulting arrays automatically updating when the source data is changed. (You can read about more ways to use the FILTER, SORT, and UNIQUE functions from Microsoft support.)
Create a dynamic chart from your dynamic array
Select the cells containing the dynamic array that you want to use to generate a chart. At the top of your spreadsheet, click the Insert tab and select a chart type (Column, Line, Pie, Bar, etc.) on the ribbon toolbar. Excel 2024 will generate the chart.
Creating a chart from a dynamic array in Excel 2024.
Howard Wen / Foundry
Changes made to the original table data that update the dynamic array will also be reflected in the dynamic chart automatically.
To customize the appearance of your chart, click on the chart to select it. At the top of your spreadsheet, select the Chart Design tab. You can then add a title to your chart, adjust its axes, or change its colors. For more about working with charts in Excel, see our charts and sparklines tutorial.
Excel: Create custom-filtered views for a spreadsheet
Using Excel’s Sheet Views feature, you can create a copy of a sheet and then apply filtered or sorted views of the data to the duplicate sheet. This can be helpful when you’re collaborating on a spreadsheet, where someone would like to create a customized view without altering the original sheet.
You and your collaborators can create several such custom-filtered/sorted views for a sheet. Then each person can select among them, switching from one view to another.
Note: In order for this feature to work, the Excel file must be stored in OneDrive.
Create a sheet view
Along the bottom of your spreadsheet, click the tab for the sheet that you want to create a sheet view for.
Then at the top of the spreadsheet, click the View tab, and on the toolbar, select Sheet View > New. You’ll be switched to a new sheet view of this sheet.
Creating a new sheet view. Here you can filter or sort the data without affecting the original data set.
Howard Wen / Foundry
Apply whatever filters and sorting you like to the data on this sheet — your actions won’t affect the original version of the sheet.
When you’re finished making your customizations, save the new sheet view and give it a unique name: On the View tab, click Temporary View (this is the name given to a new sheet view by default). You’ll be prompted to type in a new name for your new sheet view. Then click the Keep button.
When you click Exit on this toolbar, the sheet view is dismissed, and the spreadsheet returns to its original, default state.
Switch among sheet views
Once you and any of your collaborators have created sheet views for the spreadsheet, you can easily switch from one to another. At the top of the spreadsheet, click the View tab. Then at the left of the toolbar, select the name of the current view (it says Default if you’re viewing the spreadsheet without a sheet view applied) to open a dropdown listing the names of sheet views that have been created for the spreadsheet. Click the name of one of these sheet views to switch to it.
Click the dropdown on the toolbar to switch to a different sheet view.
Howard Wen / Foundry
Manage your sheet views
You can delete, duplicate, or rename your sheet views. At the top of your spreadsheet, click the View tab. Then toward the left of the toolbar, click Options.
On the “Sheet Views options” panel, click to select the name of a sheet view. Then click the Rename, Duplicate, or Delete button to perform that action on the selected sheet view.
Excel: Place images in cells with the IMAGE function
This feature requires Excel 2024.
Using the IMAGE function, you can insert and display web-based images in your spreadsheets to create visually engaging dashboards, inventories, and so on. Instead of floating on top of a cell, images inserted with the IMAGE function live within a cell and will remain there when you sort, filter, calculate, or otherwise manipulate a table.
The formula for the IMAGE function that you enter into a cell is:
source: Insert the web link to an image here, whether it’s on the internet or stored in your OneDrive. You can also reference another cell that contains an image or web link. BMP, JPG/JPEG, GIF, TIFF, PNG, ICO, and WEBP image formats are supported.
alt_text: Optionally, you can type in text that names or very briefly describes the image. This is useful if the image cannot be displayed, such as if the link becomes inactive.
sizing: This is also optional and determines how the image will be sized inside the cell. You can enter one of the following numbers:
0: This is the default. The image will be sized to fit inside the size of the cell, while maintaining the image’s original aspect ratio.
1: The image’s length and width will be stretched to fill the cell, which may distort its original aspect ratio.
2: The image’s width will be stretched to fill the cell’s width, but not its height, thus maintaining the image’s original aspect ratio.
3: The image’s height will be stretched to fill the cell’s height, but not its width, thus maintaining the image’s original aspect ratio.
height: This optional value specifies the height of the image in pixels.
width: This optional value specifies the width of the image in pixels.
Here’s an example that uses all the optional settings above:
The image file at the web link will display “Computerworld Favicon” if this link doesn’t work. It will be sized to fill the cell’s height (“3”), but not its width. However, the image will be restricted to a height and width of 200 x 300 pixels. (Normally you’d use either the sizing or the height and width controls, not all of them.)
In this example, the square CW favicon has been distorted to a height of 200 pixels and a width of 300 pixels.
PowerPoint: Create internal hyperlinks in a presentation
You can now create hyperlinks within a presentation: When you click linked text or a linked image on a slide, you will jump to another slide in the same presentation.
Go to the slide that contains the object (text or image) that you want to link from. Right-click on this object, and on the menu that opens, select Hyperlink…. Alternatively, you can click on the object to select it. Then, above the slide, click the Insert tab, and on the ribbon toolbar, click Link.
Either action will open the Insert Hyperlink panel. In the left column of this panel, click Place in This Document. In the second column, select the slide that you want the new hyperlink to jump to when it’s clicked. Then click OK.
Adding an internal hyperlink to a presentation.
Howard Wen / Foundry
To test the hyperlink, go to the slide that contains the hyperlinked object. Above the slide, click the Slide Show tab. On the ribbon toolbar, click From Current Slide. Now click the object that you created a hyperlink for — this action should jump to the slide that you selected.
PowerPoint: Create a video recording of a presentation
A presentation is about more than the slide deck. Equally important are the things you say that aren’t written on the slides — and how you say them. That means colleagues who aren’t able to attend a live session may miss out on the full impact of your presentation.
In PowerPoint 2021 and 2024, you can record both audio and video of a presentation and export it as a video to share with others.
Above your presentation, click the Record tab. On the ribbon toolbar, click From Beginning or From Current Slide. This will open a recording studio panel over the screen.
PowerPoint’s recording tools appear at the top of the screen.
Howard Wen / Foundry
Along the top of this panel, you can click the webcam or microphone icons to turn these devices on or off for recording. If you have more than one camera and/or mic connected to your computer, you can switch among them by clicking the three-dot icon on this toolbar.
Before you start the recording, take a moment to review the slides in your presentation — at the lower-left corner, click the left and right arrows to scroll through them. In the area above the slide thumbnail, you can optionally type in notes or a script to read during your recording.
Click the red circle button at the top to start recording. It will turn into a red square, indicating that your actions are now being recorded. Click through the slides and speak aloud, highlighting key points on the slides and providing more context for those who will be watching this video.
You can click the laser pointer, pen, or highlighter icons on the toolbar below the large thumbnail of the slide to point out, draw on, or highlight things on the slide. These gestures will be included in the recording.
At the top of the screen, click the Pause button (to the left of the webcam icon) to pause recording. Click it again to resume.
Click the red square at the top of the screen to stop recording. On the large thumbnail of the slide, click the triangle icon to play back the recording. If you want to redo the recording, click the circular arrow icon at the top of the screen.
When you’re satisfied with the recording, click Export at the top of the screen. On the page that opens, you can type in a file name for the recording and optionally click Browse to select where on your PC you want to save the video file. Then click the Export Video button to save the recording to that location.
Exporting a video of a presentation.
Howard Wen / Foundry
Depending on its length, the video may take a few minutes to export.
PowerPoint: Insert live webcam video into your presentation
This feature requires PowerPoint 2024.
With PowerPoint’s Cameo feature, you can embed live video from your webcam into one or more slides in your presentation. This can be useful when you’re collaborating with your co-workers on a PowerPoint presentation so you can talk with them directly. Or when you’re presenting a slideshow to others, you might want to insert your live webcam feed into a specific slide to explain the information on it.
Go to the slide where you want to add live video. Above the slide, click the Insert tab. On the ribbon toolbar, click Cameo to insert your webcam feed. Select This Slide or All Slides. A large headshot icon will appear on the lower right of the slide. (If you selected All Slides, this icon will appear on all the other slides in the presentation.) Click the crossed-out camera icon on it to switch on a live feed of your webcam.
Your live webcam feed appears at the lower right of the slide.
Howard Wen / Foundry
You can reposition your webcam feed on the slide by clicking-and-holding onto it and dragging it to another area on the slide. You can resize it by dragging one of the nine points bordering it inward or outward.
There are also several ways that you can customize your webcam feed, such as applying styles and visual effects. These options are listed on the ribbon toolbar in the “Camera Styles” area.
When you’re satisfied with the way you appear on the webcam feed, click the Slide Show tab above the slide. On the ribbon toolbar, select to start the presentation From Beginning or From Current Slide (the slide that’s open in the main area of PowerPoint).
As you advance through the presentation, your webcam feed will appear on the slide that you set it on. When the presentation is finished and you exit out of Slide Show mode, the webcam feed will turn off. You can also turn it off by simply clicking on the live feed image.
PowerPoint: Add captions to video or audio on a slide
This feature requires PowerPoint 2024.
If a video or audio file embedded on a slide has a closed captioning file that accompanies it, you can add this caption file so that the captions appear when the media is played. This can be helpful for viewers who are hard of hearing or who aren’t native speakers of your language.
Adding a closed captioning file makes video playback more accessible.
Howard Wen / Foundry
(If a video or audio file isn’t already on a slide, click the Insert tab at the top of the screen. On the ribbon toolbar, click Video or Audio. The interface will prompt you to select a video or audio file on your PC.)
Right-click on the embedded video or audio file, and on the menu that opens, select Insert Captions. Alternatively, click on the video or audio file to select it. Above the slide, click the Playback tab. On the ribbon toolbar, click Insert Captions and select Insert Captions again on the menu that opens.
Either way, the interface will prompt you to upload the caption file (in WebVTT or SRT format) that goes with the embedded video or audio file. Once the captions are uploaded, you can click the Play button below the video or audio clip to see the captions.
Outlook: Find emails quickly with Instant Search
Outlook 2021 and 2024 offer much more powerful search features than their predecessors. Inside the search box at the top of the screen, type keywords related to an email you’re looking for, such as the name of the sender or recipient, a subject line, or words or phrases that may be in the email. As you type, the Instant Search feature will generate results, if any, in a dropdown below the search bar.
You can click the Files or People tabs to narrow the search to emails with a file attachment or a sender described by your keywords. To the left of the search box, clicking All folders will open a dropdown where you can select a specific folder to narrow the results to emails in that folder only.
To search for emails, simply start typing in the search box at the top of the screen.
Howard Wen / Foundry
In the dropdown, click on the email that you want to open. Or you can press the Enter key on your keyboard, and the full list of search results will appear below in the main window of the Outlook app.
When you hit Enter, the full list of results appears below.
Howard Wen / Foundry
Refine the search results using filters
On the toolbar just above the results, you can click options such as Has attachments, Unread, @ Mentions me, and so on to filter the results by those criteria.
Another way to filter results: Back inside the search box at the top, click the Filters icon (three horizontal lines that vaguely resemble a funnel) to the right to open a panel listing various filtering options.
Outlook offers several advanced search options, including searching within a specific date range.
Howard Wen / Foundry
Perform more complex searches with search operators
An even quicker way to refine a search is by using search operators inside the search box. For example, you can type from: and then an email address to find emails that were sent from that address. Type subject: or body: followed by a single word or a phrase in quotes to narrow results down to emails that contain the word or phrase in the subject line or body of an email.
The operators received: and sent: narrow emails down to those that you received or sent on a specified date. For example, received:>=07/01/2024 will narrow the search to emails you received on or after July 1, 2024. And received:<=07/01/2024 will narrow results to emails you received before this date.
For more info about searching in Outlook, including searching for calendar items and contacts, see Microsoft’s Outlook search support page.
Outlook: Translate emails from and to other languages
Outlook can translate emails you receive written in foreign languages into your native language — and it can translate emails you write in your own language into other languages.
When you receive an email written in a foreign language, you’ll see a prompt above its message body. If English is your native tongue and you get an email written in Spanish, click Translate to English and the Spanish text in the body will be translated into English. Outlook automatically recognizes several languages that it can translate for you.
You can translate an email into your own language with a single click.
Howard Wen / Foundry
Alternatively, you can click the three-dot icon at the upper right of the email. On the menu that opens, click Translate.
Translate emails into another language
You can also use Outlook’s translator to translate your text to another language. So, for example, you can translate an email originally written in English into Spanish or another language.
If you’re using classic Outlook: Click the Home tab at the top, then click the Translate button on the toolbar. On the menu that opens, click Translation Preferences…. This will open a panel where you can select the language you want to translate your email to.
If you’re using new Outlook: Click the View tab at the top, then click View settings on the toolbar. On the panel that opens: in the first column, click Mail. In the second column, click Message handling. And in the third column, scroll down to the subheading “Translation.” Below it, you can select the language that you want to translate your email to.
Translate highlighted text in an email
This feature is currently supported in classic Outlook only. Highlight portions of text that you want to translate in an email — it can be an email you’ve received, one you’ve sent, or one you’re composing.
Right-click the highlighted words. On the menu that opens, select Translate > Translate Message. If the highlighted words are your own that you typed in an email draft, you’ll see them automatically translated on this second menu.
Learn more
Now that you’ve familiarized yourself with the notable new features in Office 2021/2024, take a look back at our prior cheat sheets for Word 2016/2019, Excel 2016/2019, PowerPoint 2016/2019, and Outlook 2016/2019; most of the tips outlined in those articles still apply in the later releases.
Or take a look at all of our Microsoft cheat sheets, which cover Windows as well as the Office apps.
Google’s Pixel phones are practically overflowing with useful stuff. And some of the best options of all are things you’ve probably never even noticed.
It’s even true in apps that seem so basic and utilitarian, you’d never think they had anything interesting lurking in their dusty virtual corners.
Today, it’s time to explore one such app — the seemingly mundane Pixel Clock app that came preinstalled on your phone. The Clock app may appear to be a simple spot for setting an alarm or timer, but don’t let yourself be fooled: Beneath its second-ticking surface, that unassuming part of your Pixel has some powerful options that’ll make your life a whole lot easier.
Oh, and if you don’t have a Pixel, don’t worry: While the Clock app is the default time-keeping tool on Google’s self-made phones, you can actually download it for free on any Android device and get the same exceptional experience this second, even outside of the Pixel universe.
All right — ready to see all the cool stuff your phone’s Clock app can do?
[Psst: Don’t stop here. Give yourself all sorts of advanced Pixel intelligence with my free Pixel Academy e-course. Seven full days of experience-enhancing sorcery!]
Google Pixel Clock trick #1: Custom recurring alarms
If you’re anything like me, you probably find yourself getting up at different times for different purposes — y’know, the standard workday time, the weekend or holiday time, and maybe even the pretending-to-be-a-platypus wacky Wednesday time (or whatever it is you do to celebrate the middle of the week).
Well, stop futzing around with adjusting your alarms each time your wakey-wakey needs vary and start taking advantage of your Pixel Clock’s custom recurring alarm features:
First and foremost, on the main Alarm tab within the Clock app, tap the circular plus button at the bottom of the screen to add extra alarms into your list.
Tap the “Add label” option within each card to give it a name that’ll let you know what it is at a glance (even when your eyes are bleary and your brain is 94% offline).
Remember, too, that you can keep any alarms you create off and available only for manual activation when you need ’em — or you can flip the toggle within their cards into the on position and select certain days of the week to have ’em automatically activate on a regular weekly schedule.
It’s easy to maintain multiple recurring alarms within the Google Pixel Clock app on Android.
JR Raphael, IDG
And all of that’s just the start.
Google Pixel Clock trick #2: Advanced alarm pausing
In a relatively recent twist, once you’ve got an alarm scheduled and set to recur on some regular schedule, you’ll see a snazzy new option to pause it — which is a bit confusing on the surface but could actually be quite handy in the right sort of situation.
So here’s how it works: With any alarm that has at least one recurring day selected, you can tap “Pause alarm” immediately beneath its schedule, within the Clock app’s Alarm tab, and then select a series of dates on which you don’t want the alarm to be running.
The “Pause alarm” option lets you select a series of days on which a recurring alarm will not be active.
JR Raphael, IDG
That way, if you’re planning a week of vacation or any sort of shift from your standard schedule, you can tell your phone to stop sounding your regular alarm during that specific period — but then to automatically pick back up with it right after. And you won’t have to worry about forgetting to reenable your alarm after your downtime is done.
Good to know, no?!
Google Pixel Clock trick #3: Custom wake music
In addition to your Pixel’s built-in alarm sounds, you can connect your Clock app to a handful of different music services and wake up to the likes of System of a Down, Rage Against the Machine, or whatever soothing morning music you prefer.
If you’re using Google’s Clock app on a Samsung phone, this is an especially noteworthy upgrade over the Clock app that came preinstalled on your device — one Samsung is >slowly working to catch up to but still nowhere near close to matching.
Here in the Pixel Clock app arena, though, all you’ve gotta do is get that connection set up once:
Tap the sound configuration line within any of the alarms in your Pixel Clock app’s Alarm tab. It’ll be directly beneath the day selector when the card is expanded, and it’ll have a bell icon likely followed by the word “Default.”
Now, here’s the hidden part: After you’ve opened those alarm sound settings, tap the three-dot menu icon in the upper-right corner of the screen.
That’ll reveal options to install and connect compatible sound services.
The Google Pixel Clock app supports custom alarm sounds from YouTube Music, Pandora, Spotify, and Calm.
JR Raphael, IDG
Pick whatever service you prefer, and you’ll then see a tab for that service within the same “Alarm sound” screen. From there, it’s simply a matter of browsing through your available options within the service’s library — or tapping the search icon in the lower-right corner of the screen to find something specific — and picking the song or playlist most likely to annoy the living daylights out of anyone else sleeping in your vicinity.
You can select any available song or sound to be used as your alarm.
JR Raphael, IDG
Ahh — nothing like a gentle start to the day.
Google Pixel Clock trick #4: Specialized sounds
If the custom music isn’t cuttin’ it for ya, take note: Your Pixel Clock app also allows you to select any other standard sound file to use as your alarm audio.
Tap any individual alarm within the Clock app’s Alarm tab.
Tap the line with the current alarm sound — like “Default (Fresh Start)” — next to the little bell icon.
Look for the “Add new” option.
Smash your favorite phalange down on that option, and you’ll then be able to select any compatible sound file from your local phone storage or from any connected cloud services.
Google Pixel Clock trick #5: Vocal variety
One more potentially alarming alarm option to chew over is the Pixel Clock’s amusing ability to let you record your own self-made sound for an extra-special (and/or terrifying) wake-up experience.
Just follow the same steps we just went over — only this time, look for the “Record new” option within an individual alarm’s sound settings.
The Pixel Clock app’s “Record new” option lets you record your own custom sound for future alarms.
JR Raphael, IDG
Bonus points if you manage to work a convincing Al Pacino impression into your recording.
Google Pixel Clock trick #6: Automated automation
An especially cool trick in Google’s Pixel Clock arsenal is the app’s ability to connect to Google Assistant (which, yes, is still around in some forms, despite the ongoing march toward Gemini as a replacement) and trigger all sorts of automated actions as part of any alarm you set.
Back in the app’s Alarm tab, expand an alarm’s card and look for the “Google Assistant Routine” option. Tap that son of a dingus, and you’ll be taken to a screen where you can configure all sorts of extra actions to accompany your waking.
The Pixel Clock app’s Assistant Routines integration opens up all sorts of awesome automation options.
JR Raphael, IDG
The options are virtually endless: Anything Assistant can do on your Pixel can be added into the mix — things like reading out info about your day, adjusting various phone settings, turning on or off any manner of connected device, and even interacting with third-party apps in all manners of interesting ways.
Hey Google: Any chance you can whip up some freshly made biscuits while you’re at it?
Google Pixel Clock trick #7: Wake-up weather
This next trick seems to be limited only to scenarios where Google’s Clock app is running on a Pixel device, specifically — sorry, non-Pixel pals! — but if you’re in such a situation, take note of the nifty line that says “Weather forecast” within the expanded view of any alarm on the app’s Alarm tab.
Activating that will allow you to see an instant overview of the current weather in your area as soon as you dismiss an alarm. It’ll just pop up automatically, as a full-screen forecast with the option to get even more detail.
Get a glimpse at the weather as part of every alarm with Google’s Clock app on a Pixel.
JR Raphael, IDG
The forecast for today and every other day an alarm is set, incidentally, is sleepy with a strong chance of surliness. Consider yourself warned.
Google Pixel Clock tricks #8, 9, and 10: Custom alarm behaviors
On a more foundational level, your friendly neighborhood Pixel Clock app can let you take total control of how your alarms act and how you interact with ’em.
Tap that three-dot menu icon in the upper-right corner of the Clock app’s main screen and select “Settings” from the list that comes up. Then pay careful attention to a trio of important yet easily overlooked options:
Within the “Alarms” section, “Silence after” lets you customize exactly how long your alarm will harass you before giving up and shutting its virtual yap.
In that same area of the screen, “Snooze length” allows you to shorten or extend the number of minutes your Pixel Clock will let you rest before attempting to buzz you out of bed again.
And also in that section, “Volume buttons” will empower you to reprogram your Pixel’s physical volume keys so that they either snooze an active alarm or stop it entirely instead of simply adjusting its volume — an excellent set of choices for anyone who finds fumbling with the screen first thing in the morning as irksome as I do.
Oh, and one more thing worth noting on this front…
Google Pixel Clock trick #11: The gentle volume phaser
Hearing any sound at full blast is an unfortunate way to welcome yourself back to the land of the living. Your Pixel phone has a more pleasant option, though — if you find it and take the time to turn it on.
In that same Clock app settings area we were just exploring, you’ll see lines labeled “Gradually increase volume” under both “Alarms” and “Timers.” Tap either or both of those lines, and hey — wouldya look that?
A less alarming alarm sound? Yes, please!
JR Raphael, IDG
Play around with the options, see what works best for you, and enjoy a slightly less jarring start to your next busy work/platypus day.
Google Pixel Clock trick #12: Simpler snoozing
While we’re on the subject of unwanted waking, if you start your days as foggy and groggy as I do, Google’s Pixel Clock app has a helpful way to stop an alarm without so much as lifting a single fingie.
So long as you’ve got Google Assistant/Gemini enabled with hands-free “Hey Google” activation — and if you aren’t sure, search your system settings for Assistant settings and then pull up the “Hey Google” section — you can silence any active Clock app alarm simply by saying Hey Google, stop or Hey Google, snooze.
Better yet, if you’ve got a reasonably Pixel phone with support for Google’s Quick Phrases system — available on the Pixel 6 and up, with English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, or Spanish set as your primary language — you can actually skip the “Hey Google” and just say Stop or Snooze to make the same thing happen.
Head back into those same Assistant settings and seek out the “Quick phrases” option to make sure you’ve got it activated, then mumble away in the morning without a worry in the world.
All you’ve gotta do is utter a single word to stop or snooze an alarm once the Pixel-specific Quick Phrases feature is active.
JR Raphael, IDG
Google Pixel Clock trick #13: Simple syncing
If you’re using a Pixel phone and a Pixel Watch, be sure to dig into the Google Clock app’s settings to find the “Alarm sync” option.
That simple-seeming toggle will let you connect the alarms on your phone and watch so they’re one and the same and any alarms set on one device will also be set and present on the other.
You can choose whether you want alarms to ring on both your phone and watch or if you’d rather use an “Adaptive ringing” option that automatically sounds the alarm only on whichever device you’re actively using at the moment it’s scheduled to occur.
Simple syncing is a splendid setting when you’re using a Pixel phone and Pixel Watch together.
JR Raphael, IDG
Just set it and forget it. What more could you ask for?
Google Pixel Clock trick #14: The timer time-saver
Here’s a neat one I didn’t actually notice myself until years into my personal Pixel journey: In your Pixel Clock’s Timer tab, you can create multiple persistent timers and then keep ’em readily available for easy ongoing use.
That way, if you have specific types of timers you use time and time again, you can pull ’em up quickly and get ’em going — without wasting any time.
To get started, look for the circular plus icon toward the bottom of the Timer tab after you’ve tapped in some amount of time and started a timer going. Once you’ve created some specific timers and set ’em up the way you want, be sure to tap the title above each one to customize it and give it a nice name for easy at-a-glance identifying.
You’ll then have on-demand access to all those different timers anytime you need ’em in the future.
Stop starting new timers and instead save the ones you use the most.
JR Raphael, IDG
‘Bout time you got this going!
Google Pixel Clock trick #15: Timed sleep sounds
Speaking of timers, your Pixel Clock companion has a tucked-away option that might just help you function a bit better on your busy workdays by getting a good night’s sleep.
Tap the tantalizing Bedtime tab at the app’s bottom edge and look for the section called “Sleep sounds.” (You might have to first tap a “Get started” option and do some initial setup, if you’ve never before accessed that area.)
Tap the “Choose another sound” button on the screen that comes up next, and you can select from a small handful of relaxing noises — waves, deep space, dial-up modem screech, and so on.
Then, when you hit the play button back on the Bedtime tab, your sound of choice will start playing — and you can tell the app exactly how long you want it to continue before shutting off and sending you away into a deep, relaxing slumber.
Drift off to dreamy sounds with the Pixel Clock app’s sleep sounds system.
JR Raphael, IDG
(Just kidding about the dial-up modem screech, by the way — though if you really want to add that into the lineup, you can download it from this Wikipedia page and then use the specialized sounds option we went over a minute ago to make it available. You’re welcome — and, simultaneously, apologies.)
Google Pixel Clock trick #16: A custom bedtime schedule
Also on the subject of bedtime, be sure to browse through the “Schedule” section of the Pixel Clock app’s Bedtime tab while you’re there. That area will let you set a simple schedule to have your phone automatically enter Do Not Disturb mode and optionally even adjust its screen into a less distracting black-and-white grayscale setting during your sleepy-time hours.
You can configure exactly how the Clock-connected Bedtime mode works within Android’s main system settings.
JR Raphael, IDG
You can either create a strictly time-driven schedule or check an option to have your bedtime mode turn on only when your Pixel is actively being charged during certain hours — a welcome bit of contextual intelligence to accompany those of us with irregular sleep patterns.
Google Pixel Clock trick #17: The multiple time zone tracker
I don’t know about you, but I am an absolute nit when it comes to keeping track of multiple time zones. For whatever reason, at least one out of every five times, I end up mixing up the most basic time zone conversions and confusing my mushy ol’ man-noggin about when, exactly, some manner of event is occurring.
Your Pixel Clock app has a helpful way to make managing multiple time zones easier: In the Clock tab, tap the circular plus icon and search for any city you think about during the day. You can add as many cities in as you want, and you’ll then be able to see ’em all on the same screen — with a clear indication of the current time in each area and its exact difference from your location. On reasonably recent Pixel devices, you’ll also see the weather for each area right then and there for easy at-a-glance access.
It’s as easy as can be to track multiple time zones within the Pixel Clock app.
JR Raphael, IDG
If you really want to go all out, you can also slap the Clock app’s handy world time widget onto your home screen for an even more accessible at-a-glance view of the same info. Long-press anywhere on your home screen and look for the widget-adding command to find it.
Google Pixel Clock trick #18: Time travel
Now, hang on: Don’t get too excited. This isn’t actual time travel in the DeLorean, Doc Brown, “Great Scott!” sense. But it is a supremely useful Pixel Clock option that’ll help you better keep track of the time whenever you’re traveling (whether via DeLorean or a more conventional transportation method).
The feature will automatically add an extra clock into your Clock app’s Clock tab — that same list we expanded a second ago — so you can always see the current time in your home city anytime you’re somewhere else, without any extra thought or effort.
You can confirm the feature is active and ready to roll on your phone by heading into the Clock app’s settings (via the three-dot menu icon in its upper-right corner) and looking for the “Automatic home clock” toggle.
Google Pixel Clock trick #19: Second precision
Prefer to track the exact time, down to the second? Google’s Clock app has got ya covered.
Gallop back into the app’s settings section one more time — and this time, look right toward the top of the list for a toggle to “Display time with seconds.”
Tap that toggle, and in a split second, you’ll see an added second-counter on the end of the current time within the Clock app’s Clock tab.
Easy peasy!
Google Pixel Clock trick #20: A secret shortcut
For the Pixel owners among us, you’ve got a simple built-in shortcut to zip into the Clock app anytime, from anywhere on your device. It’s just up to you to realize it’s there.
Luckily, there’s really nothing to it: Just swipe down once from the top of your screen to open up your notification panel, then tap the current time in the upper-left corner of the screen.
That’s it. Who knew?!
Google Pixel Clock trick #21: On-demand alarm info
No matter what type of Android device you’re using, you can add your own custom Quick Settings tile to have a one-swipe-away view of your next alarm and an easy way to open up the Google Clock app from anywhere.
Swipe down twice from the top of your screen to see your Quick Settings, then tap the pencil-shaped icon to edit it. (On some Samsung devices, you might have to tap a three-dot menu icon and then select an option to edit from there instead.)
Find the “Alarm” tile in the section showing unused Quick Settings options and drag it into any position you like within the active tiles area. Then, you can always see your next scheduled alarm right then and there, in your Quick Settings, and tap that tile to jump right over into the “Alarm” tab of the Google Clock app.
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JR Raphael, IDG
Google Pixel Clock trick #22: Simple action shortcuts
Last but not least, one final Pixel Clock possibility to ponder: You’d never know it, but hiding within the regular ol’ Clock icon in your app drawer is a series of spectacular shortcuts for performing certain simple actions in a single swift step.
And it couldn’t be much easier to use: Just press and hold your finger onto the Clock app’s icon in your app drawer or on your home screen for a couple of seconds. And hey, how ’bout them apples?
All sorts of time-saving Clock app actions — never more than a long-press away.
JR Raphael, IDG
There, right in front of your suspiciously steamy nostrils, are one-tap options for creating a new alarm, firing up a new timer, and starting a stopwatch — as well as for launching the Clock app’s time-focused screensaver, in case that urge ever strikes. Any of those commands will launch the associated action in the blink of an eye, without any spelunkin’ around within the app’s menus.
And here’s one more bonus trick: If you find yourself using any of those options regularly, you can make it even easier to access by pressing and holding your finger onto it and then dragging it directly onto your home screen. See?
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JR Raphael, IDG
Now it’ll be just like any other shortcut on your home screen and never more than a single tap away.
Saving time in an app that’s all about seconds — it just doesn’t get much better than that.
Don’t let yourself miss an ounce of Pixel magic. Sign up for my free Pixel Academy e-course and discover tons of hidden features and time-saving tricks for your favorite Pixel phone.
The researchers highlighted security threats involving the manipulation of virtual objects when users collaborated via mixed reality headsets. The work involved 20 participants from the school, with most having little or no experience with mixed-reality headsets. In many cases, the participants did not know they were being attacked; instead, they blamed technical glitches or latency issues for the problems they encountered.
“Malicious entities could exploit vulnerabilities to disrupt critical collaborations, manipulating users’ perception of the environment, and impairing their ability to coordinate, potentially resulting in physical or psychological harm to users and bystanders,” the researchers said.
There has not been enough focus on potential vulnerabilities within the XR platforms, said Anshel Sag, principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy.
“The reality is that a lot of these platforms are pretty closed and it’s hard to evaluate the code,” Sag said.
The study was done using a HoloLens 2 headset, which Microsoft discontinued last year. The HoloLens 2 platform is out of date, Sag noted, something the researchers acknowledged.
“There are only a few collaboration platforms in use today for enterprise and defense, and a good chunk of the potentially vulnerable collaboration tools most likely don’t connect to the open internet,” Sag said. “That’s why I think a lot of the implementations that the government wants to use — or any kind of secure applications like enterprises [rely on] — need to have code evaluations and audits.”
The researchers said the attacks would be difficult for users to comprehend and identify. “An attack might alter the environment for one user without affecting the view of others or disrupt communication between users at a critical moment,” the researchers said.
They noted the possibility of a “click redirection attack,” which they likened to web-based clickjacking. In this case, a malicious party could attack a 3D object in a collaborators’ field of view. When the person tries to move the object, the action affects another 3D object instead.
“The collaborative environment can make the unintended movement of virtual objects a potential cause of mistrust and confusion between the collaborators,” the researchers wrote.
Another attack — called an “object occlusion attack”— involved placing an invisible barrier on 3D objects to prevent interaction from a distance. And a “spatial occlusion attack” expanded that concept by placing an invisible boundary over a larger region and blocking interaction with multiple objects.
Occlusion attacks could affect productivity in projects as collaborators might not have similar fields of view. That kind of attack would force headset users to get closer to virtual objects before they interact with them.
The researchers also launched a latency attack by slowing network speeds between participants’ headsets. The network attack significantly undermined the user experience.
To safeguard virtual systems, the researchers recommended educating users about potential security threats and building in security by design. Safety measures could include auditory cues to identify the location of objects and a warning system to identify security threats.
Additionally, headset developers could include UI changes with toggles and controls that “highlight all objects in the environment similar to basic 3D view management,” the researchers wrote.
The research study was written by Maha Sajid, Syed Ibrahim Mustafa Shah Bukhari, Bo Ji, and Brendan David-John. They could not be reached for comment.
A new report by UK analyst firm Say No to Disinfo and communications firm Fenimore Harper indicates a high risk that AI-generated disinformation could create bank runs that could bring down financial institutions, according to Reuters.
In an experiment, a number of UK customers were shown AI-generated rumors about their bank. Afterwards, a third said they were “very likely” to withdraw their money, with 27% saying they were “quite likely” to do so.
According to the report, spending as little as £10 (about $12.60) on a fake AI message would be enough to persuade customers to withdraw more than $1 million from the bank in question.
Attempts to challenge the power of Elon Musk and his DOGE team to close down government departments have hit an unexpected complication: according to the White House, the entrepreneur is not even in charge of the operation.
That surprising claim was made in court papers filed by the White House on Monday. Far from running DOGE, Musk is simply another “senior adviser to the president,” with no greater authority than any other advisor, according to an affidavit filed by the White House’s Director of the Office of Administration, Joshua Fisher.
“Like other senior White House advisors, Mr. Musk has no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself. Mr. Musk can only advise the President and communicate the President’s objectives,” Fisher declared in the affidavit.
Musk is not an employee of DOGE, nor its administrator; his status is that of an employee of the White House, Fisher added.
His filing was in response to a complaint filed Feb. 13 by the attorneys general of 14 US states against “Elon Musk in his official capacity,” the US DOGE Service and its temporary organization, and President Trump himself, questioning the apparently unchecked power DOGE and Musk have been handed by Trump.
Their wording didn’t hold back, drawing an unflattering parallel between his behavior and the “despotic power” wielded by Britain’s King George III over the American colonies in the 18th century.
“Mr. Musk’s seemingly limitless and unchecked power to strip the government of its workforce and eliminate entire departments with the stroke of a pen or click of a mouse would have been shocking to those who won this country’s independence,” they said.
Musk did not occupy an office of state and had not been confirmed by the Senate, the states argued. This rendered his actions unconstitutional.
DOGE playbook
If Musk isn’t running DOGE, who is running it? And does this even matter? Unhelpfully, President Trump’s executive order bringing it into existence on day one of his administration never named a head. Nor, as critics have pointed out, did it explain how a department could have so much power or even be called a “department” without having to obtain approval from Congress first.
This is surely deliberate. If it’s not a department, it is not therefore bound by legislation governing freedom of information, privacy and administration. However, the White House’s refusal to acknowledge Musk as the head of DOGE is probably simply a delaying tactic. They will know that successfully identifying Musk as the person directing DOGE is important for his opponents’ legal arguments.
If Musk is not running DOGE, then who should be held responsible for its actions? It’s likely that a judge will eventually point out that someone, somewhere must be accountable for what DOGE is doing.
Exploiting a loophole
The problem with trying to stop Musk and DOGE is that he has attacked the system on several fronts simultaneously, often using unsubstantiated claims of fraud as his motivation. This includes turning up unannounced at the Treasury Department on January 20 and demanding access to payment servers which store the tax returns, social security data and bank account numbers of every adult US citizen. That access was blocked by a judge.
The same modus operandi has been repeated in other departments, creating a moving target for anyone trying to stop him. In response, some officials have chosen to resign rather than give Musk’s team access to data in a way that might not comply with existing data security and privacy rules.
What remains unclear is how much access has been granted, and to whom within DOGE. This has left a feeling of strained uncertainty.
“An internal email sent to BFS [Bureau of the Fiscal Services] IT personnel by the BFS threat intelligence team has identified DOGE access as “the single greatest insider threat risk the Bureau of the Fiscal Service has ever faced,” argued the state attorneys general as part of their recent legal challenge.
Furthermore, “The intelligence team recommended the DOGE members be monitored as an insider threat. Critically, they called for “suspending” any access to payment systems and “conducting a comprehensive review of all actions they may have taken on these systems,” it continued.
“Mr. Musk has gained sweeping and unprecedented access to sensitive data, information, systems, and technological and financial infrastructure across the federal government. This access is seemingly limitless and dependent upon Mr. Musk’s discretion.”
For now, there is nothing to stop Musk beyond a flurry of disconnected lawsuits by organizations and individuals. For its part, DOGE continues to hide in plain sight, exploiting the loophole that by avoiding being a formal department, it sits strangely beyond the usual rules.
Apple has apparently delayed what is arguably its most important Apple Intelligence feature, contextual intelligence, by at least another month. It’s the latest chapter in what history will remember as the company’s most painfully slow, yet strategically significant, introduction yet.
Bloomberg says Apple has hit a variety of obstacles in developing these tools, with the smart features the company wants to introduce not working consistently.
The company is attempting to build on-screen awareness so Siri can act with the content you are seeing — it might save a message address or even run a series of nested commands such as pulling out a half remembered article from those you read the day before to send to a friend.
Apple has one example in which the intelligence extends to person recognition, so Siri might be able to tell you when your mom’s flight is landing, based on an old email containing her flight number and recognition of your relationship.
These are all sophisticated features, but ensuring they work consistently is essential. You don’t want families waiting forlornly for the wrong flight, or mom waiting for a ride that never arrives. Unlike AI-generated news headlines, these tools really need to work before they ship.
And word is, they don’t, at least not yet….
“Hey Siri, what’s that paperclip in Windows called?”
The inevitability of WWDC
The update had been expected to show its face in April with iOS 18.4. Now it won’t appear until one month before WWDC 2025, in iOS 18.5 in May.
That’s almost one full year since those features were first discussed at WWDC and shows the extent to which Apple has been forced to play for time in this deployment. It has managed to make that time, but the delay can’t be a good thing for the company, given it should also be pouring resources into improvements across all its operating systems as it prepares for its annual developer conference in June.
It begs questions such as just how much of the company’s resources are being spent on AI, and what, if any, additional Apple Intelligence tools it will be in position to announce this year.
One thing we do know is that Apple must announce something at WWDC. Developers will want to know the company is moving forward on AI. That means that merely reprising the features the company managed to ship slowly across the last 12 months won’t do. Nor will pointing enthusiastically at the new support for additional languages Apple is expected to introduce.
To maintain relevance amid the clamor about Deep Seek or Open AI, Apple needs to justify what CEO Tim Cook promised in late 2024, when he said: “We’re pouring all of ourselves in here, and we work on things that are years in the making.”
Betting the bank
Apple understands this. Despite shuttering its Apple Car project, the company spent more on research and development in its just-past quarter than it did a year ago. ($8.2 billion versus $7.6 billion). R&D spending goes up most every year at the company and you can bet your bottom dollar (in comparison to Apple’s near infinite ones) that AI is part of that spending plan.
Throwing money at problems doesn’t always yield results, however.
You need resource allocation and tight control to ensure all the different research teams are working effectively together. This has plainly been a challenge at Apple, given the company recently put one of its best, Kim Vorrath, in charge of getting Apple Intelligence to ship on time. Vorrath is working with John Giannandrea, Apple’s senior vice president for machine learning and AI, whose team was reportedly sidelined for access to developer resources until early 2023, according to an earlier Wall Street Journal report. This is no longer true.
Facing the challenge
While Giannandrea’s team builds on the AI-driven tools Apple already has in place, the challenges faced by his group mean they must not only deliver AI in an Apple way, but do so in a way that visibly competes with the larger pure AI companies its rivals are already partnering with.
With so much at stake, it is perhaps better to delay rather than ship anything that does not work. But people’s patience with such delays will not be infinite and with Open AI still threatening to introduce its own device designed by iPod designer Jony Ive, Apple’s execs surely feel a degree of performance anxiety as they struggle to be the real artists they are reputed to be.
width="2193" height="1234" sizes="(max-width: 2193px) 100vw, 2193px">With the second Trump administration, very different cultures are once again clashing in the transatlantic relationship.
rawf8 – shutterstock.com
The recently inaugurated US President Donald Trump has turned the trusting relationship between the United States and Europe on its head, according to the EU’s new Competition Commissioner, Teresa Ribera. Brussels must now ensure reliability and stability, factors that no longer exist in Washington. In an interview with the Reuters news agency, the politician called on Europe to continue negotiating with the White House and listen to the US government’s concerns on trade issues, but not to allow any changes to EU laws to be forced upon it.
“We need to stick to our strengths and principles,” Ribera told Reuters. “We need to be flexible but we cannot transact on human rights nor are we going to transact on the unity of Europe, and we are not going to transact on democracy and values.”
Trump and his followers in the US government had recently criticized the EU for its rules and regulations. The fines imposed by the EU on US technology companies are a kind of punitive tax.
JD Vance: EU restricts freedom of speech
US Vice President J.D. Vance used his appearance at the Munich Security Conference in mid-February for a general reckoning with Europe. He said EU Commissioners were suppressing freedom of expression and restricting access to online platforms and search engines in certain situations with the help of the Digital Services Act.
Ribera reacted to the accusations with incomprehension. “If there is a problem, a point of concern, please explain that,” the EU Commissioner said. “That doesn’t make sense.”
Volker Wissing, Federal Minister for Digital Affairs and Transport, also made it clear that European values are not negotiable, neither through political pressure nor through market dominance. “Anyone who believes that European rules can be dictated from outside is very much mistaken,” emphasized the politician. “The EU Commission must consistently enforce the Digital Services Act (DSA) – without compromises and without deals. Anyone who confuses freedom of expression with the freedom to spread hate and disinformation is misjudging the foundations of our values.”
Ribera announced that the EU will issue decisions in March 2025 on whether Apple and Meta have complied with European rules. Both US companies have been under observation by antitrust watchdogs for around a year. They could face heavy fines if it turns out that they have violated the Digital Markets Act. The EU Commissioner rejected speculation that the decisions could be delayed in view of the massive criticism from the US administration.
The Spanish politician also announced that Trump buddy Elon Musk’s social media platform X would remain under observation. Musk’s role within the US government plays no role in this, she said.
Amazon faces billions in fines in Italy
Amazon is finding out that European authorities don’t take kindly to rules and laws being violated. Public prosecutors in Italy are investigating whether the world’s largest online retailer has cheated tax authorities there out of €1.2 billion in value-added tax (VAT). Since 2019, a law in Italy has obliged e-commerce platforms to pay the VAT incurred by third-party sellers outside the EU if they sell goods in Italy via the platform.
The investigations by the public prosecutor’s office cover the period from 2019 to 2021 and were concluded in December, according to various media reports. Amazon is facing a penatly of over €3 billion, according to the Guardia di Finanza. Amazon will not comment on the investigations, according to a report by the French news portal France 24. However, the online retailer asserts that it is committed to complying with all applicable tax laws.
Amazon’s tax practices have been criticized for years. Despite billions in sales, the company shifts its profits to tax havens such as Luxembourg in order to avoid taxes, complained British Labour MP Margret Hodge back in 2022. The EU Commission, on the one hand, and Amazon and Luxembourg, on the other, have been arguing for years about whether Amazon’s tax advantages in Luxembourg are illegal or compliant with EU state aid rules. Amazon itself asserts that it works in full compliance with local tax laws everywhere.
Generative AI (genAI) projects will move from pilot phase to production for many companies this year, which means the workforce will be affected in ways never before imagined. One of those ways will involve onboarding AI agents as new digital employees.
One of the focus areas for global staffing firm ManpowerGroup has been its proprietary platform, Sophie, which leverages AI to tackle talent screening tasks. The staffing firm sees AI agents as playing a central role in sifting through job applicant data for clients. identify market trends, and offering hiring suggestions. When Sophie provides a recommendation — either for or against a candidate — it also explains the reasoning behindi it.
“We view Sophie as a partner to help you focus on what truly matters: finding the right people and building a workplace grounded in honesty, respect, and mutual confidence,” said Carolyn Balkin, general manager for Global Client Solutions at ManpowerGroup.
The company borrowed a page from its HR best practices on team integration to ensure agents were introduced to the marketing team and understood their roles. It also created feedback loops that enabled simple, two-way feedback between human marketers and agents, which turned out to be key in establishing “collaboration and mutual learning.”
AI adoption also means that practically every employee, whether they’re part of an IT organization or a business group, must become familiar with chatbots and other large language model-related technology to better do their jobs.
What organizations are seeking in new talent has shifted as AI continues to take on the more repetitive predictable tasks, requiring workers to focus more on creating new business value.
ManpowerGroup’s Balkin manages IT, technology and telecommunications industry vertical clients, and she has been advising organizations about what it means to manage AI employees. One of the biggest challenges: finding the kind of talent they’ll need that can work with AI and figuring out how to integrate agents across business groups.
Carolyn Balkin, general manager for Global Client Solutions at staffing firm ManpowerGroup
ManpowerGroup
How has managing employees changed since the adoption of AI in the workplace? “I think you know that’s where the soft skills have really come into play, because it is not just a technology. I was at the Davos Conference recently, and a lot of the conversations were about AI, and a number of organizations talked about. It’s not just a technology anymore. We are looking for individuals that have the industry experience. We can take somebody with industry experience and train them on the technical part of the job.
“It’s a lot harder for us to take somebody with the technical skills and teach them how the industry works. I think there’s a focus on looking at the soft skills: the problem solving, the complex reasoning ability, and communications. Because it’s not just developing AI for the sake of software technology; it’s to address that larger business problem. It’s about looking at all of the business functions, and taking all of that into consideration.
“So, I think it is more than just the technology play now. And therefore, when managing these people, it’s not just managing a technical group anymore. You’re managing people who are bringing a different perspective, a different experience, and different soft skills to play, and it’s about how do you pull all of that together.”
How do you go about managing that other type of AI employee — the digital agent, or the AI itself that is becoming another kind of employee? “We do have some early adopters that have put in place these agent workforces. I do know it has changed how they’re looking at workforce management. It’s about what can my agents do? You’re almost looking at agents as the new intern of the company. What can the agents do transactionally, and then what skills do I need to manage that on top of the agents? So, what technical skills do I need, and what soft skills do I need in my employees to manage those agents? And that becomes the workforce plan.
“Then it’s looking at location strategy. In the past, organizations have led with location in the past; now, it’s about getting the agent strategy right. First, figure out what you can take from your transactional workers and then focus on what skills you need.
“Then you have to consider employee upskilling or reskilling. I think organizations are going to have to become much more proactive on their upskilling and reskilling programs. We’ve heard so much about this for the last couple of years, and I think there’s a gap where organizations believe they have strong programs. But when you talk to employees within these companies, they don’t feel there’s been the opportunities to upskill and reskill. So, I think we’re going to have to see more structure around those programs.”
So, how are you managing the digital employee you call Sophie? “Behind Sophie is a cross-functional group that bridges technical expertise and real-world understanding. AI and machine learning experts collaborate with sales and operational professionals, along with individuals who study how people interact with technology. Together, they work toward maintaining our commitment to fairness and trust by:”
Running ongoing checks to spot hidden biases in how Sophie interprets data.
Protecting personal information through strong security protocols and compliance practices.
Offering transparent decision-making details so you always see why Sophie has chosen a particular path.
So would you say managing your digital workforce or managing your agentic workforce is kind of the next frontier? “I definitely think so. I mean, it’s just a collaboration across the agents. And look how fast AI came on board, and now it’s just getting smarter and harder. You know how it’s collaborating with each other. And you know, you have to teach it, too. It’s not going to be just like humans. It’s not going to be 100% accurate, so you need to monitor it; it’s going to create different jobs. You know, back to your question, will it create jobs or kill jobs? Don’t know yet.
“I think they’ll definitely be different, though, because now you have people looking at the quality of what’s coming out of the agents, testing to see if it’s accurate, training the agent. So it will create a whole new set of roles, and it’s going to affect every industry. In manufacturing, for example, organizations are using AI agents for quality control, and doing things significantly faster than they’ve been able to do in the past.”
What industries are being affected the most quickly? “I would say it’s your tech companies that are probably the early adopters, because for them to sell something, clients want a case study. They want to know where you’ve done this and what the impact has been. So, the tech companies see themselves as client zero in order to demo a lot of these new tools and technologies.”
What kinds of problems is AI introducing from an employee management standpoint? Do you believe every company is a technology company and every employee is a technologist to some extent? “Technically, yes, I do believe that. The problem is [that] the gap is getting wider between those employees who understand AI technology and are willing to learn more about it and those who don’t want to have anything to do with it. But I think everybody will be a technologist, eventually. It’s going to be talent augmented by technology.
“I was recently talking to a business manager, and he said while there’s always going to be an IT group, it’s no longer going to be the harbinger, or the only ones who own the technology.”
You have people in marketing, in advertising, in customer support, all the various branches of a business that need to be tech savvy. What’s needed to manage a workforce where everyone is using AI in one form or another? “I think you need a lot more collaboration across the workforce, because historically it has always operated in a very siloed way. You’d roll technology out from one place to the rest of the organization. As you adopt more AI, you can’t do that anymore.
“A big topic at the Davos conference was agentic AI, and that is really all about collaboration. A lot of the large language models — generative AI — have been historically working in a silo. You ask it a query; it shoots out an answer to you.
“The AI that’s under development at a lot of these organizations today is more the agentic AI, which is collaboration of various AI apps and a collaboration of your various data sets. So, that creates a lot more questions because you’ve got to have governance of all those agents. You’ve got to have platforms and the technology behind that.
“There has to be the governance model in play. You need to look at the business holistically in order to manage AI across all of those areas, so you don’t have department doing one thing that might conflict with what another may be doing. They all really need to be aligned so that they’re functioning with each other.”
Anecdotally, when I talk to folks who are out of work, even people who have years of experience technology, they’re having a hard time finding jobs. What do you see happening? Is it harder to get a technology job now, and what skills are companies looking for? “I think it is harder to land a technology job right now. And I think part of that might just be a reflection on where the market is. I know there’s been a lot of stability in the IT tech sector, but organizations haven’t been hiring on additional talent. And some of that is 2024 seemed to be a settling period where there was a lot of adoption of AI. This year it’s about the impact of AI. And I think organizations, No. 1 are trying to figure out. What does their workforce look like? Where do they need to bring in additional talent?
“And then No. 2, what does that talent look like? And I don’t think they’re there yet. Then you throw in the whole agent workforce, and that adds to the problem.
“There are more mature companies when it comes to AI — the IBMs of the world, the Accentures, the Salesforces; they’re looking at how AI agents are becoming part of their workforce planning. When understanding what your needs are, you first have to consider what the agents will cover those needs, and then figure out what employee skills are needed on top of them.
“And I think that’s the other piece — from a management perspective, it’s become more multifaceted in the approach that companies are taking. They’re not looking for job- centric people anymore. It’s more about the skills-people have.”
When you say less job-centric, what does that mean? “In the past, you would post a job and it would list the tasks of the job. Now, managers are focused more on skills needed to perform in their business. So, these are the skills that we need to support the project.
“I actually had an interesting conversation with a client yesterday, and they were even talking about soft skills, with AI becoming more front and center when it comes to reasoning and problem solving. You assess that along with the technical skills an employee brings to the job. Businesses are looking at assessments that can help them evaluate the soft skills, some of the cognitive reasoning skills [potential hires have].”
Data shows that the number and types of jobs are growing with the advance of AI, but at the same time, there is evidence AI is reducing employee headcount — taking on tasks formerly done by employees. Which do you believe it is? Or is it both? “Is AI is going to reduce workforce sizes, lead to more people being laid off, or is it going to create more opportunities? It’s hard to say. I mean, it could go either way. But I think it’s going to impact more of the transactional roles. It will take a lot of the low-level transactional work away, but what it will also do is allow people to focus on those specialized skills.
“We’ve been talking about how software development is happening so much faster with AI. So, companies are looking for more specialized skill sets. I think there’ll be a shift from the generic skills that companies brought on in the past to more specialized skills that they’re going to need in the future.”
Can you give me some examples of the specialized skill sets? “For example, SAP engineers, SAP architect, AWS skills, and Salesforce skills. Those are some of the software areas that companies are looking for more specialized talent.”
So, you’re saying hiring will be based on skills that are specific to the applications and the AI that is becoming a part of that? “Even cybersecurity. While we’ve been talking about software, cybersecurity is another area that’s going to be very important because you’re opening up some doors with AI related to security and data privacy.”
Where do you even start with that cybersecurity and AI? It seems almost amorphous if AI is in every corner of a business. “There are so many things, and it’s happening so fast. So, we are still learning as fast as we can. We’re trying to understand what the impact of AI will be, and how it will change our business models. Even from a talent organization like ours, which is providing global talent solutions, what does that do for us?
“Now, our company is going to start looking for your talent plus the AI agents you’ll need. So AI becomes part of a hiring solution. There are a lot of companies that are developing AI boot camps for the C-suite executives and opening their eyes to what’s out there. Think about it. At universities like MIT, it used to take teams of scientists years to develop what can now be done in a matter of seconds.
“Right now, companies are taking a step back to discover what the business challenges are that need to be solved because of AI automation. They’re trying to discover the best way to do that. I don’t think there’s a lot of academia programs developed for that. I think a lot of it is pilot programs that involve peers talking about the issues.”
Generative AI (genAI) projects will move from pilot phase to production for many companies this year, which means the workforce will be affected in ways never before imagined. One of those ways will involve onboarding AI agents as new digital employees.
One of the focus areas for global staffing firm ManpowerGroup has been its proprietary platform, Sophie, which leverages AI to tackle talent screening tasks. The staffing firm sees AI agents as playing a central role in sifting through job applicant data for clients. identify market trends, and offering hiring suggestions. When Sophie provides a recommendation — either for or against a candidate — it also explains the reasoning behindi it.
“We view Sophie as a partner to help you focus on what truly matters: finding the right people and building a workplace grounded in honesty, respect, and mutual confidence,” said Carolyn Balkin, general manager for Global Client Solutions at ManpowerGroup.
The company borrowed a page from its HR best practices on team integration to ensure agents were introduced to the marketing team and understood their roles. It also created feedback loops that enabled simple, two-way feedback between human marketers and agents, which turned out to be key in establishing “collaboration and mutual learning.”
AI adoption also means that practically every employee, whether they’re part of an IT organization or a business group, must become familiar with chatbots and other large language model-related technology to better do their jobs.
What organizations are seeking in new talent has shifted as AI continues to take on the more repetitive predictable tasks, requiring workers to focus more on creating new business value.
ManpowerGroup’s Balkin manages IT, technology and telecommunications industry vertical clients, and she has been advising organizations about what it means to manage AI employees. One of the biggest challenges: finding the kind of talent they’ll need that can work with AI and figuring out how to integrate agents across business groups.
Carolyn Balkin, general manager for Global Client Solutions at staffing firm ManpowerGroup
ManpowerGroup
How has managing employees changed since the adoption of AI in the workplace? “I think you know that’s where the soft skills have really come into play, because it is not just a technology. I was at the Davos Conference recently, and a lot of the conversations were about AI, and a number of organizations talked about. It’s not just a technology anymore. We are looking for individuals that have the industry experience. We can take somebody with industry experience and train them on the technical part of the job.
“It’s a lot harder for us to take somebody with the technical skills and teach them how the industry works. I think there’s a focus on looking at the soft skills: the problem solving, the complex reasoning ability, and communications. Because it’s not just developing AI for the sake of software technology; it’s to address that larger business problem. It’s about looking at all of the business functions, and taking all of that into consideration.
“So, I think it is more than just the technology play now. And therefore, when managing these people, it’s not just managing a technical group anymore. You’re managing people who are bringing a different perspective, a different experience, and different soft skills to play, and it’s about how do you pull all of that together.”
How do you go about managing that other type of AI employee — the digital agent, or the AI itself that is becoming another kind of employee? “We do have some early adopters that have put in place these agent workforces. I do know it has changed how they’re looking at workforce management. It’s about what can my agents do? You’re almost looking at agents as the new intern of the company. What can the agents do transactionally, and then what skills do I need to manage that on top of the agents? So, what technical skills do I need, and what soft skills do I need in my employees to manage those agents? And that becomes the workforce plan.
“Then it’s looking at location strategy. In the past, organizations have led with location in the past; now, it’s about getting the agent strategy right. First, figure out what you can take from your transactional workers and then focus on what skills you need.
“Then you have to consider employee upskilling or reskilling. I think organizations are going to have to become much more proactive on their upskilling and reskilling programs. We’ve heard so much about this for the last couple of years, and I think there’s a gap where organizations believe they have strong programs. But when you talk to employees within these companies, they don’t feel there’s been the opportunities to upskill and reskill. So, I think we’re going to have to see more structure around those programs.”
So, how are you managing the digital employee you call Sophie? “Behind Sophie is a cross-functional group that bridges technical expertise and real-world understanding. AI and machine learning experts collaborate with sales and operational professionals, along with individuals who study how people interact with technology. Together, they work toward maintaining our commitment to fairness and trust by:”
Running ongoing checks to spot hidden biases in how Sophie interprets data.
Protecting personal information through strong security protocols and compliance practices.
Offering transparent decision-making details so you always see why Sophie has chosen a particular path.
So would you say managing your digital workforce or managing your agentic workforce is kind of the next frontier? “I definitely think so. I mean, it’s just a collaboration across the agents. And look how fast AI came on board, and now it’s just getting smarter and harder. You know how it’s collaborating with each other. And you know, you have to teach it, too. It’s not going to be just like humans. It’s not going to be 100% accurate, so you need to monitor it; it’s going to create different jobs. You know, back to your question, will it create jobs or kill jobs? Don’t know yet.
“I think they’ll definitely be different, though, because now you have people looking at the quality of what’s coming out of the agents, testing to see if it’s accurate, training the agent. So it will create a whole new set of roles, and it’s going to affect every industry. In manufacturing, for example, organizations are using AI agents for quality control, and doing things significantly faster than they’ve been able to do in the past.”
What industries are being affected the most quickly? “I would say it’s your tech companies that are probably the early adopters, because for them to sell something, clients want a case study. They want to know where you’ve done this and what the impact has been. So, the tech companies see themselves as client zero in order to demo a lot of these new tools and technologies.”
What kinds of problems is AI introducing from an employee management standpoint? Do you believe every company is a technology company and every employee is a technologist to some extent? “Technically, yes, I do believe that. The problem is [that] the gap is getting wider between those employees who understand AI technology and are willing to learn more about it and those who don’t want to have anything to do with it. But I think everybody will be a technologist, eventually. It’s going to be talent augmented by technology.
“I was recently talking to a business manager, and he said while there’s always going to be an IT group, it’s no longer going to be the harbinger, or the only ones who own the technology.”
You have people in marketing, in advertising, in customer support, all the various branches of a business that need to be tech savvy. What’s needed to manage a workforce where everyone is using AI in one form or another? “I think you need a lot more collaboration across the workforce, because historically it has always operated in a very siloed way. You’d roll technology out from one place to the rest of the organization. As you adopt more AI, you can’t do that anymore.
“A big topic at the Davos conference was agentic AI, and that is really all about collaboration. A lot of the large language models — generative AI — have been historically working in a silo. You ask it a query; it shoots out an answer to you.
“The AI that’s under development at a lot of these organizations today is more the agentic AI, which is collaboration of various AI apps and a collaboration of your various data sets. So, that creates a lot more questions because you’ve got to have governance of all those agents. You’ve got to have platforms and the technology behind that.
“There has to be the governance model in play. You need to look at the business holistically in order to manage AI across all of those areas, so you don’t have department doing one thing that might conflict with what another may be doing. They all really need to be aligned so that they’re functioning with each other.”
Anecdotally, when I talk to folks who are out of work, even people who have years of experience technology, they’re having a hard time finding jobs. What do you see happening? Is it harder to get a technology job now, and what skills are companies looking for? “I think it is harder to land a technology job right now. And I think part of that might just be a reflection on where the market is. I know there’s been a lot of stability in the IT tech sector, but organizations haven’t been hiring on additional talent. And some of that is 2024 seemed to be a settling period where there was a lot of adoption of AI. This year it’s about the impact of AI. And I think organizations, No. 1 are trying to figure out. What does their workforce look like? Where do they need to bring in additional talent?
“And then No. 2, what does that talent look like? And I don’t think they’re there yet. Then you throw in the whole agent workforce, and that adds to the problem.
“There are more mature companies when it comes to AI — the IBMs of the world, the Accentures, the Salesforces; they’re looking at how AI agents are becoming part of their workforce planning. When understanding what your needs are, you first have to consider what the agents will cover those needs, and then figure out what employee skills are needed on top of them.
“And I think that’s the other piece — from a management perspective, it’s become more multifaceted in the approach that companies are taking. They’re not looking for job- centric people anymore. It’s more about the skills-people have.”
When you say less job-centric, what does that mean? “In the past, you would post a job and it would list the tasks of the job. Now, managers are focused more on skills needed to perform in their business. So, these are the skills that we need to support the project.
“I actually had an interesting conversation with a client yesterday, and they were even talking about soft skills, with AI becoming more front and center when it comes to reasoning and problem solving. You assess that along with the technical skills an employee brings to the job. Businesses are looking at assessments that can help them evaluate the soft skills, some of the cognitive reasoning skills [potential hires have].”
Data shows that the number and types of jobs are growing with the advance of AI, but at the same time, there is evidence AI is reducing employee headcount — taking on tasks formerly done by employees. Which do you believe it is? Or is it both? “Is AI is going to reduce workforce sizes, lead to more people being laid off, or is it going to create more opportunities? It’s hard to say. I mean, it could go either way. But I think it’s going to impact more of the transactional roles. It will take a lot of the low-level transactional work away, but what it will also do is allow people to focus on those specialized skills.
“We’ve been talking about how software development is happening so much faster with AI. So, companies are looking for more specialized skill sets. I think there’ll be a shift from the generic skills that companies brought on in the past to more specialized skills that they’re going to need in the future.”
Can you give me some examples of the specialized skill sets? “For example, SAP engineers, SAP architect, AWS skills, and Salesforce skills. Those are some of the software areas that companies are looking for more specialized talent.”
So, you’re saying hiring will be based on skills that are specific to the applications and the AI that is becoming a part of that? “Even cybersecurity. While we’ve been talking about software, cybersecurity is another area that’s going to be very important because you’re opening up some doors with AI related to security and data privacy.”
Where do you even start with that cybersecurity and AI? It seems almost amorphous if AI is in every corner of a business. “There are so many things, and it’s happening so fast. So, we are still learning as fast as we can. We’re trying to understand what the impact of AI will be, and how it will change our business models. Even from a talent organization like ours, which is providing global talent solutions, what does that do for us?
“Now, our company is going to start looking for your talent plus the AI agents you’ll need. So AI becomes part of a hiring solution. There are a lot of companies that are developing AI boot camps for the C-suite executives and opening their eyes to what’s out there. Think about it. At universities like MIT, it used to take teams of scientists years to develop what can now be done in a matter of seconds.
“Right now, companies are taking a step back to discover what the business challenges are that need to be solved because of AI automation. They’re trying to discover the best way to do that. I don’t think there’s a lot of academia programs developed for that. I think a lot of it is pilot programs that involve peers talking about the issues.”
