What you need to know
- Microsoft announced the general availability of Copilot agents to help automate business processes and promote efficiency.
- The agents can be integrated into the user’s workflow and run in the background while leveraging Copilot’s capabilities.
- The company has also unveiled pre-built agents like Visual Creator with image and design generation capabilities.
- Users can also create custom Copilot agents using the agent builder powered by Copilot Studio.
Today, Microsoft unveiled Copilot agents in general availability at its long-anticipated event. The company defines Copilot agents as “AI assistants designed to automate and execute business processes, working with or for humans.”
Copilot agents range from simple, prompt-and-response agents to agents that replace repetitive tasks to more advanced, fully autonomous agents. Users can integrate the agents into their workflow, allowing them to work in the background while leveraging Copilot’s capabilities.
Microsoft says Copilot agents are “simple and secure to manage” and are based on the same Responsible AI. For context, the data shared or accessed with the AI-powered tool won;t go beyond the Microsoft 365 trust boundary and all the processes are restricted to your tenant.
The company also plans to give its competitors in the AI landscape like OpenAI, a run for their money with pre-built agents. For instance, Visual creator agent lets user generate images and designs. The platform is also expected to get video support soon.
Microsoft is also making it easier to build Copilot agents using the agent builder powered by Copilot Studio. You can customize the agent to make it more advanced to meet your specific needs and wants that can be published in all kinds of channels, including Microsoft Teams, your website, or your customer engagement hubs.
Users can also expand and fine-tune the agents capabilities to meet specific needs like sending emails, updating records, or creating support tickets. Anyone can create a Copilot agent from BizChat to SharePoint. As reiterated, you can use Copilot like a partner and even @ mention the agent within your workflow to share new information or ask questions.
Copilot agents and agent builder in BizChat will ship to broad availability in the next few weeks. However, Copilot agents and agent builder in SharePoint will roll out in public preview in early October.
As you may know, despite officially leaving the company to focus on philanthropy, Bill Gates is reportedly intimately involved in Microsoft affairs. Gates is seemingly interested in Microsoft’s AI efforts, and per an internal memo shared with top executives at the firm about AI agents (loosely described as advanced tools for making work easier by summarizing emails), Copilot agents fit the bill.
