Microsoft Empowers Clients to Create AI Agents for Routine Tasks

• Microsoft plans to allow customers to create autonomous AI agents starting next month.
• Autonomous agents are designed to handle tasks like responding to client queries, identifying sales opportunities, and managing inventory.
• Microsoft to let clients build AI agents for routine tasks from November.

Microsoft is set to allow its customers to create autonomous artificial intelligence (AI) agents starting next month, as part of its ongoing efforts to capitalize on the rapidly growing AI technology sector amidst increasing investor scrutiny over its significant AI investments.

Unlike chatbots, these autonomous agents require minimal human intervention and are designed to act as “apps for an AI-driven world,” handling tasks such as responding to client queries, identifying sales opportunities, and managing inventory.

Other tech giants, including Salesforce, have also highlighted the potential of these agents, which some analysts believe could provide a more straightforward path to monetizing the substantial investments being made in AI.

Microsoft announced that from November, customers can use Copilot Studio – a platform that requires little coding knowledge – to create these agents, available in a public preview. The agents will be powered by various AI models developed in-house and by OpenAI.

Additionally, Microsoft is rolling out 10 pre-built agents designed to automate routine tasks, such as supply chain management, expense tracking, and client communication.

During a demonstration, McKinsey & Co, an early user of the tools, created an agent capable of managing client inquiries by checking interaction history, identifying the appropriate consultant, and scheduling follow-up meetings.

“The idea is that Copilot (the company’s chatbot) is the user interface for AI,” said Charles Lamanna, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of business and industry Copilot.

“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.”

As tech companies face increasing pressure to demonstrate returns on their AI investments, Microsoft’s shares dropped 2.8% in the September quarter, underperforming the S&P 500. However, the stock remains over 10% higher for the year.

Concerns have surfaced recently regarding the pace of Copilot adoption. In August, research firm Gartner reported that the majority of 152 surveyed IT organizations had not yet advanced their Copilot projects beyond the pilot phase.