Bellows College wants to enable Microsoft 365 Copilot features in Teams meetings so that Copilot can summarize meeting discussions, answer questions during the call, and generate action items after the meeting. The admin has assigned Copilot licenses to all users but notices that Copilot is not functioning in meetings. What specific prerequisite must be configured BEFORE Copilot can function in Teams meetings?
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Short Explanation and Infographic
Copilot in Teams meetings is basically a really smart note-taker — but it needs to hear the conversation first. That 'hearing' is transcription. No transcript, no Copilot. Enable transcription in your Teams meeting policy and the Copilot panel lights right up.
Full explanation below image
![A 2048x1536 portrait-orientation infographic titled 'Copilot in Teams Meetings: Prerequisites' in white text on a gradient header blending Teams purple (#6264A7) to Copilot sparkle purple (#7719AA). The layout has three main sections stacked vertically. Top section: A stylized Teams meeting screen mockup showing a video call grid with 4 participant tiles and on the right side a Copilot panel open showing 'Meeting summary' text and 'Action items' with a sparkle/star Copilot icon in purple. Middle section (largest, highlighted with a bright orange-yellow caution border): A large callout box labeled 'REQUIRED PREREQUISITE' with a bold microphone-and-transcript icon. Inside the box: 'Transcription must be ENABLED' in large bold text, with a toggle switch shown in the ON (green) position. Below it: a sub-note 'Without transcription, Copilot cannot hear the meeting.' A large red X icon overlays the Copilot panel when transcription is OFF (shown as a smaller side-by-side comparison). Bottom section: A Teams admin center navigation breadcrumb — 'Teams Admin Center → Meetings → Meeting Policies → [Policy] → Meeting Engagement → Transcription → ON' shown as connected pill-shaped steps with right-pointing arrows. Below this: a simple flow diagram showing 'Transcription ON' (green circle) pointing with a large arrow to 'Copilot ACTIVE' (purple sparkle icon, green glow). Use Teams purple, Copilot purple, clean white backgrounds for content areas, and bright green (#107C10) for the ON state.](/media/microsoft/ab-650/AB-650-e1-q010-infographic.webp)
Full Explanation
Microsoft 365 Copilot in Teams meetings works by analyzing the live meeting transcript to provide real-time question answering, summaries, and post-meeting action items. Because Copilot needs the transcript as its source of truth for everything spoken in the meeting, transcription is a hard prerequisite — it must be enabled before Copilot can provide any meeting intelligence. Transcription can be enabled at the tenant level or within a specific Teams meeting policy in the Teams admin center under Meetings > Meeting policies > [Policy name] > Meeting engagement > Transcription. When 'Transcription' is set to On, attendees can start transcription during a meeting, and Copilot can leverage it in real time and after the meeting ends.
Option A (meeting recording to OneDrive for Business) is incorrect because Copilot in Teams meetings uses the live transcription stream, not the meeting recording, to generate summaries and answer questions. Recording and transcription are separate features in Teams. A meeting can be transcribed without being recorded, and Copilot does not require a recording to function. Confusing recording with transcription is a common exam trap.
Option C (Microsoft Copilot Studio deployment) is incorrect because Copilot Studio is a low-code platform for building custom copilots and AI agents — for example, a customer service bot or a custom HR assistant. It is a completely separate product from Microsoft 365 Copilot and has no bearing on enabling Copilot features within Teams meetings. Microsoft 365 Copilot capabilities in meetings come from the M365 Copilot license and the transcription configuration, not from Copilot Studio.
Option D (Teams Meeting add-in via Intune) is incorrect because the Teams Meeting add-in is the plugin that allows users to schedule Teams meetings from Outlook. It is a scheduling convenience tool and has no relationship to the AI capabilities of Copilot in active Teams meetings. Installing or managing this add-in has zero effect on whether Copilot can summarize or interact during a meeting.
Exam Tip: The AB-650 exam frequently tests the prerequisite dependencies for Copilot features. For Teams meetings specifically, remember this dependency chain: Copilot license + Transcription enabled = Copilot in meetings works. Transcription is the single most important configuration gate for this scenario. Recording, Copilot Studio, and add-ins are all distractors.