Enterprises to Build Microsoft Autonomous AI Agents on Copilot Studio
Microsoft has announced that businesses will be able to make their own AI agents starting November 2024. Yahoo Finance reported that Microsoft’s autonomous AI agents are part of the big tech’s broader strategy of getting a return on its AI investment, including its partnership with OpenAI.
According to CNBC, the US-based big tech company made the announcement during the AI Tour event in London, UK.
Leveraging Microsoft Copilot
Businesses will use Copilot Studio to create AI agents. Copilot Studio is an application developed by Microsoft that requires minimal computer code knowledge,
“The idea is that Copilot is the user interface for AI. Every employee will have a Copilot, their personalized AI agent, and then they will use that Copilot to interface and interact with the sea of AI agents that will be out there.” Charles Lamanna, Corporate VP for Business and Industry Copilot at Microsoft said.
The tech giant is leveraging multiple AI models developed internally to build its AI agents. It’s also using AI models developed by OpenAI, which Microsoft partially owns after investing billions of dollars.
Apps for the AI World
AI agents represent an evolution of large language models from chat interfaces. Microsoft has positioned its AI agents as programs that require minimal human intervention. Unlike chatbots, Microsoft’s new AI agents can perform a range of tasks, including handling customer queries, managing inventory, and identifying sales leads.
Microsoft AI agents were first introduced in May 2024 in private preview mode. The US tech giant will shift them to public preview next month to enable businesses to create their own AI agents. As Microsoft’s AI advancement shifts to AI agents, the company is set to face fierce competition from other big techs.
In September 2024, Salesforce unveiled Agentforce at its annual Dreamforce event. Agentforce is a platform that allows enterprises to create their own AI agents. During the event, Salesforce criticized Microsoft’s Copilot model of AI agents as one that does not adequately serve enterprise needs.
“All of these copilots activated on the edge, or in email are not connected to or grounded within the context of customer data. How is it going to represent a company accurately and responsibly? It isn’t. I think we won’t see so many copilots for enterprise AI activity. I’m not saying copilots won’t exist for other purposes. But in the context of enterprise, for autonomous enterprises to be able to plan, execute and take action- you’re no longer in Copilot there,” Salesforce CEO for UK and Ireland, Zahra Bahrololoumi said.
Salesforce is among the top big tech firms that have touted AI agent potential.
Ready-for-Use Agents
Besides Microsoft’s client-built AI agents, the tech giant announced plans to unveil 10 ready-for-use AI agents on its enterprise resource planning suite, Dynamics 364, and customer relationship management applications.
These agents will help companies support their supply chain, service, sales, and finance teams to perform mundane tasks including expense tracking, supply management, and client communication. Consulting firm McKinsey & Co. had the privilege of accessing Microsoft’s autonomous AI agent system.
The company showcased an example of an AI agent it developed at the AI Tour event. The agent could be seein opening an email to check the communication, checking communication history, mapping it to industry terms, and finding the right person in the company to act on the communication.
In what seemed like magic, McKinsey’s AI agent even summarized a response to the email using natural human language.
“We’re excited about this because of the business value it can drive,” Microsoft VP of Modern Work and Business Apps, Jared Spataro said.
The AI agent has already helped the consultancy firm to reduce lead time by 90%.
Demonstrating Investment Value
Big techs are under pressure to demonstrate returns from their massive AI investments. In July 2024, investors raised big questions about Microsoft’s AI slow payoff, including whether the growth of its Azure cloud-computing business justified the billions spent on AI infrastructure.
There have been concerns over the adoption of Microsoft’s Copilot as well. A survey conducted by Gartner in August 2024 showed that out of the 152 tech companies targeted, the majority had not advanced their Copilot initiatives beyond the pilot stage. Microsoft stocks dropped by 2.8% in the July-September quarter.
