Microsoft's new Copilot agents want to revolutionize the way companies use AI

Microsoft has unveiled a new set of enterprise AI capabilities for its Microsoft 365 Copilot service. The company announced Copilot agents, a new feature in Microsoft Copilot Studio that lets users build, manage, and deploy AI agents to automate business processes.

Agents in Copilot Studio are designed to work with a business’s existing data and knowledge bases, whether in Microsoft 365, Azure, or third-party systems. Users can publish agents to Microsoft Teams, the web, or mobile apps, and agents can be shared across organizations.

Microsoft says it’s seen “incredible customer adoption” of Copilot Studio to date, pointing to over 50,000 organizations using the platform.

With the update to Copilot Studio, Copilot agents can now be published directly to Microsoft 365 Copilot. Agents appear in chat and search results in Microsoft 365 Copilot Business Chat, the Microsoft 365 app, and Microsoft Teams, and users can interact with agents via text or voice.

Microsoft is bringing a lighter-weight version of Copilot Studio to Microsoft 365 Copilot, the company’s conversational AI service for businesses. This version of the Copilot Studio interface will allow Microsoft 365 Copilot users to create agents from within Microsoft 365 Copilot Business Chat and SharePoint, with no coding or AI experience required.

The new, user-friendly Copilot Studio is available now in preview, and Microsoft says it will roll out to all customers over the coming weeks. Meanwhile, a store for agents created with Copilot Studio is now available to users in Microsoft 365 Copilot Business Chat, Teams, and the Microsoft 365 app, with access to the store controlled by IT admins.

Microsoft is also introducing a more sophisticated form of agent to Copilot Studio—autonomous agents. In preview, these agents can perform plans or tasks, learn from interactions with employees, and escalate to a human when necessary. Plus, Microsoft says that Copilot Studio users will soon be able to create agents that “ingest” data from knowledge sources, including databases and documents, rather than just knowledge in the form of prebuilt skills.

Microsoft Copilot Studio governance features are now generally available, while autonomous agents in preview are available to customers in the U.S. and Canada.

You can read more about it in the official blog post.