Content by AI – that's what they call it...

Creating websites or at least onepagers with AI is a current trend. And, of course, this trend has not bypassed Microsoft SharePoint. See also: Create pages with AI in SharePoint

This article is about providing content on sites and pages in SharePoint using Web Parts that use Copilot. This is a slightly different topic than having the AI create the entire page.

In my example, a SharePoint site contains 12 files, each with a recipe for Christmas cookies, stored in a library.

The following metadata columns are available:

• Multiple selection: Ingredients
• Free text: Info: %information about Christmas cookies%
• Price: Price per serving

Prompt for the first test after uploading: Do you have recipes for Christmas cookies? Which ones are the best?

Ranking

What would have worked in a search, namely more details/metadata and so on, to improve the file's ranking, does not work in Copilot. See the second screenshot in the article. The file “6. Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies.docx” and the corresponding recipe are not displayed there. Even though this file, and only this file, has the metadata fields filled in. You have to tell Copilot very explicitly on what to sort. Then it works: “Refer to the ‘Info’ column in the ‘Christmas cookies’ library. The recipe with the most data in the ‘Info’ column should be rated highest. Don't use the internet!” => Motto: Explain it like I am 5.

Or ask him what he has currently sorted. Copilot dynamically adjusts this depending on the prompt and the logged-in user.

1,2,3, What comes first in the answer from #genAI

Search ranking is a big topic when it comes to topics such as usability or SEO. When search-driven became a topic a few years ago, it was the same game. How can you control what the search outputs first? And now we have exactly the same thing again with AI/Copilot. Web parts such as the FAQ web part or the integration of Copilot into the text web part (details: Writing with Copilot in the SharePoint rich text editor) raise these questions. What is displayed there for the normal user and in what order?

The search ranking is not relevant here. Instead, Copilot decides based on the context, i.e., depending on the prompt and the user. You can also ask Copilot: What did you sort by?

To include sorting or filtering, the prompt must be adjusted. In my example: Sort the result by the “Price” column.

Related topics: Create an AI-generated webpage using Copilot