Microsoft announced during an AI tour in London that all Microsoft 365 Copilot customers will soon be able to create their own custom AI agents.
During the AI tour in London, Microsoft announced AI agents. These agents will be available in test versions starting next month.
AI agents are the new hype within artificial intelligence. It is being described by major industry players as the big next step within AI, after GenAI that we have heard a lot about in the past two years. AI agents have an expanded ability to reason and can make even more autonomous decisions for you. How revolutionary this evolution is or is not is fodder for dicussion.
Ironically, the concept of AI agents emerged as a reaction to Microsoft Copilot, which opponents of Microsoft’s AI assistant said was “disappointing. Having Copilot excel within defined boundaries proved more difficult than expected, after all. Now Microsoft itself seems to be jumping on that bandwagon.
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Intelligent assistants
The AI agents will be able to automate business processes in apps such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Teams. Tasks include, for example, accelerating lead generation or automating the supply chain. In this way, Copilot is a personal assistant for every employee with the Microsoft Office 365 license. Companies can configure those agents themselves via prompts or via a graphical interface.
In addition, Microsoft is introducing ten autonomous agents in Dynamics 365, aimed at improving efficiency in sales, service, finance and supply chain teams. For example, these agents can monitor supplier performance and detect delays.
Agents created in Copilot Studio include security measures and tools to manage their use. The public preview of these agents is expected to be launched at the Microsoft Ignite 2024 conference in November.