Microsoft Just Revealed 5 New AI Agents to Help You Work Smarter
At its annual Ignite conference for IT professionals, Microsoft announced several new AI developments across its 365 ecosystem of software. Most notably, the tech giant unveiled a new lineup of AI agents, capable of taking action, gathering intelligence, and assisting with work. Consumers will be able to use Microsoft’s ready-made agents or customize their own.
Unlike AI-powered personal assistants such as ChatGPT, agents in this context are designed to complete specific tasks alongside humans. For example, a “Financial Reporting Agent” could be designed to check your company’s financial statements against the company’s database to identify inaccuracies.
Microsoft says that agents are now available in Sharepoint, the company’s enterprise management platform. Instead of manually searching for information on Sharepoint, users can now simply ask an agent to surface the requested information. Plus, the agent includes citations, meaning users can quickly check to make sure the agent is accurate. Users can also create their custom agents, determine what information they have access to, and share agents with their coworkers.
The company also announced that it is developing an agent designed to assist employees with their workplace’s key policies. The “Self-Service Agent” will be able to surface information about a worker’s benefits and payroll information, and even take actions like submitting requests for time off.
In Microsoft Teams, the company’s workplace communications platform, employees will soon be able to use a “Facilitator Agent,” which can be activated during video calls to take notes and summarize key information. Early next year, teams will also get an “Interpreter Agent,” designed to assist communication across languages. The agent automatically translates speakers into a desired language, and users can choose to have the agent simulate their voice.
Microsoft’s project management platform, Planner, also gets an AI agent. The “Project Manager Agent” will be capable of developing a project plan, assigning tasks to employees, tracking progress, and reminding employees about deadlines.
For more specific tasks, Microsoft is enabling users to build their own AI Agents through a new application called Copilot Actions. Users can quickly design automated processes, like filtering certain emails into a specific folder or receiving a summary of their workload at the start of each day by following a simple “fill-in-the-blanks”-style format.
Microsoft isn’t the only big tech company investing heavily in AI agents. Salesforce has unveiled several agents across its portfolio of platforms, including Slack, and Klarna plans to replace hundreds of employees with agents.
