Australian public servants perceive time saved with Copilot

In the evaluation of Australia's Copilot trial, staff perceived savings of around an hour a day on summaries, first drafts and searches. Of survey respondents, 69% agreed that it sped up their work.

  • 1 an organization

    Staff perceived savings of around an hour a day on three tasks, and around 65% of managers saw a productivity uplift. The savings are self-reported.

Depth runs from 1, a convenience or time saved, to 5, a life or a livelihood preserved.

Status
Reported benefit.
Evidence

foundstudiedreportedclaimed

Only the evaluators support the benefit.

Compared with

Doing the same tasks without Copilot, as participants estimated. Assumed without a measurement.

The system’s part
Not isolated. The evaluators credit the time savings to Copilot from participants' own estimates. The trial had no randomized comparison group, so the evaluation does not isolate what Copilot added. The evaluators describe Copilot as a large language model.
Limits
Not yet checked.
Costs and harms
Not yet checked.
Later
Not yet checked.

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Benefit type
Reduced Task Time
System
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Made by
Microsoft
Used by
Australian Government agencies in the whole-of-government trial coordinated by the Digital Transformation Agency
Where
Australia
Stage
In a pilot
Date
Kind
Aggregate result
Broad benefit
Processing Information, Documenting/Recording Information, Getting Information
Collections
Scrutiny and findings, Cross-border records
Last revised
31 October 2026

Sources

  1. Evaluation report, by an evaluator that the makers or users commissioned.

    Digital Transformation Agency. Australian Government trial of Microsoft 365 Copilot: evaluation report in full, executive summary and glossary. Evaluation by Nous Group, engaged by the DTA, which coordinated the trial. Published October 2024 (archived copy).

    Improvements in efficiency and quality were perceived to occur in a few tasks with perceived time savings of around an hour a day for these tasks.

Details

AI system

Workflow

Agencies nominated staff for more than 5,765 licenses between January and June 2024. Copilot worked inside Microsoft 365 applications that staff already used, mainly Teams and Word. Staff who received three or more forms of training were more confident in using it.

Follow-up

Conditions for replication

Agencies must configure their information systems and permissions to accommodate Copilot safely. Staff must check Copilot's output, since its inaccuracy can cancel the time saved.

Entry details

Sector

Public administration.

Purpose

Microsoft built Microsoft 365 Copilot to draft, summarize and search content inside Microsoft 365 applications.

Not yet checked: model, release, provider, role, configuration, inputs and outputs, autonomy, human oversight, AI contribution, beneficiaries, reach, distribution and access, duration, every measurement question, every money question, ownership and control, dependencies, cross-border connections, geopolitical implications, replication attempts, availability, institutional decision, grounds, action and result, success criterion, every evidence question, observed or intended, alternative assessments, related entries, other identifiers, category mappings.

Cite this record

Peter H. Vartanian. (2026). Australian public servants perceive time saved with Copilot (AIBD-0881). Artificial Intelligence Benefits Database, edition of 31 October 2026. https://petervartanian.xyz/aibd/records/AIBD-0881.html (archived at https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/AADSII, version 4.0)

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