The company is promoting these autonomous agents—programs that require minimal human oversight, unlike traditional chatbots—as "applications for an AI-driven world." These agents are designed to manage customer inquiries, identify sales opportunities, and oversee inventory management.
Other major tech firms, including Salesforce, have also highlighted the potential of such agents, which analysts suggest could offer businesses a more straightforward route to monetizing the significant funds they are investing in AI.
Microsoft announced that its customers will be able to utilize Copilot Studio—an application that demands little coding expertise—to develop these agents in public preview starting in November. The agents will be powered by various AI models created both internally and by OpenAI.
Additionally, the company is launching ten pre-built agents capable of assisting with routine tasks, including supply chain management, expense tracking, and client communication.
In a demonstration, McKinsey & Co, which received early access to the tools, developed an agent that manages client inquiries by reviewing interaction history, identifying the appropriate consultant for the task, and scheduling follow-up meetings.
"The concept is that Copilot (the company's chatbot) serves as the user interface for AI," stated Charles Lamanna, corporate vice president of business and industry Copilot at Microsoft, in an interview with Reuters.
"Every employee will have a Copilot, their personalized AI agent, which they will use to interact with the multitude of AI agents available."
Tech companies are under increasing pressure to demonstrate profitability from their substantial investments in artificial intelligence. In the September quarter, Microsoft's stock declined by 2.8 percent, lagging behind the S&P 500, although it is still over 10 percent up for the year.
Recent months have seen growing apprehension regarding the speed of Copilot adoption. A survey conducted by research firm Gartner in August, which included 152 IT organizations, revealed that most had not advanced their Copilot projects beyond the pilot phase.