Microsoft announced a number of new AI advancements across its 365 software ecosystem at its annual Ignite conference for IT professionals. Most significantly, the tech giant introduced a new range of AI agents that can take action, collect information, and help with work. Customers can customize their own agents or use Microsoft’s ready-made ones.
In contrast to ChatGPT and other AI-powered personal assistants, agents in this context are made to work with humans to accomplish particular tasks. For instance, a “Financial Reporting Agent” could be developed to cross-check your company’s financial statements with its internal database, to pinpoint any discrepancies or errors. According to Microsoft, the company’s enterprise management platform, SharePoint, now offers the agents. Rather than doing a manual search on SharePoint, users can now ask an agent to bring up the information they need. Additionally, the agent incorporates citations, so that users can easily verify the accuracy of the agent. Users can also design their own custom agents, control which information they have access to, and share agents with their colleagues.
The company also revealed that it is building an agent to help employees understand the major policies at their workplace. The “Self-Service Agent” will be able to provide information about a worker’s benefits and payroll, as well as perform tasks such as submitting time off requests.
Microsoft Teams, the company’s workplace communication platform, will soon feature a “Facilitator Agent” that can be activated during video meetings to take notes and summarize important points. Additionally, early next year, Teams will introduce an “Interpreter Agent” to facilitate cross-language communication. This agent will automatically translate a speaker’s words into the chosen language and even allow users to make the agent mimic their own voice.
Planner, Microsoft’s project management platform, will also feature an AI agent. The “Project Manager Agent” will be able to create a project plan, allocate tasks to employees, monitor progress, and remind staff of deadlines. Microsoft’s new application called Copilot Actions allows users to create their own AI agents for more specific tasks. This application allows users to easily design automated workflows, such as sorting emails into designated folders or receiving a daily summary of their tasks, using a simple fill-in-the-blanks-style format.
Microsoft isn’t alone in embracing AI agents. Salesforce has introduced a variety of agents across its suite of platforms, including Slack, while Klarna plans to replace hundreds of employees with AI agents in the near future.
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