Microsoft is continuing to improve generative AI across Windows with new updates to Microsoft 365 Copilot.

The company has announced that the ability for users to create their own autonomous agents in Copilot Studio is moving from private to public preview next month.

Agents can be triggered by specific events and act on their own, rather than being activated by a conversation. For instance, when an email arrives, an agent can be activated to look up the sender’s details and account, see previous communications, check inventory, ask the sender their preferences, and then take the necessary actions to close a ticket. 

“Think of agents as the new apps for an AI-powered world. Every organization will have a constellation of agents — ranging from simple prompt-and-response to fully autonomous. They will work on behalf of an individual, team or function to execute and orchestrate business processes. Copilot is how you’ll interact with these agents, and they’ll do everything from accelerating lead generation and processing sales orders to automating your supply chain,” Microsoft wrote in its announcement. 

The company shared some examples of customers that have already built their own autonomous agents, including Pets at Home, who created an agent to compile cases for human review; McKinsey & Company, who created an agent to speed up client onboarding; and Thomson Reuters, who created an agent to speed up its legal due diligence process.

Microsoft is also releasing ten new autonomous agents in Dynamics 365, which is its enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) software.

New agents spans sales, service, finance, and supply chain use cases, and include examples like:

  • Sales Qualification Agent, which researches leads, prioritizes opportunities, and guides customer outreach
  • Supplier Communications Agent, which tracks supplier performance to detect and respond to delays
  • Customer Intent and Customer Knowledge Management Agents, which learn from customer service representatives how to resolve customer issues and add articles to a company’s knowledge base.