Microsoft’s AI agents will soon complete complex tasks automatically
Microsoft Ignite 2024, the company’s annual conference for developers and IT professionals, took place on Tuesday. During the event, the Redmond-based tech giant made several new announcements around Windows, Microsoft 365, Azure and its artificial intelligence (AI) platform Copilot. In the AI space, the company has introduced new purpose-built AI agents that require no programming and can perform certain tasks directly within Microsoft 365 apps. In addition, a new Copilot Action feature was also announced that allows users to automate daily repetitive tasks.
Microsoft will introduce new AI agents at Ignite 2024
In one blog postMicrosoft has detailed the new AI features and tools. The tech giant already has AI agents that can communicate via Copilot, and a Copilot Studio where users can build their own custom AI agents. But now four new purpose-built AI agents have been introduced. The key difference here is that these agents are pre-trained and skilled in performing enterprise-oriented tasks with high accuracy and efficiency.
Among them, Agents in Sharepoint can find project details from an organization database, summary meeting notes and memos, and also find specific documents. Users can request a file or project details through a natural conversation and a vague description of it. The tool also allows users to create and share custom agents to target a specific type of content. This is now widely available.
The Facilitator agent in Teams can take real-time notes during a meeting and in chats, and the Project Manager agent in Microsoft Planner can automate plan creation and task completion. Both are available in public preview.
Another AI agent introduced at the event is the Employee Self-Service Agent. It is available in Business Chat and can answer general organization-related policy questions and perform certain HR and IT tasks, such as requesting time off or requesting a new laptop. This AI agent is available in private preview.
Finally, the Interpretor agent in Teams can provide real-time speech-to-speech interpretation during meetings. The AI agent can also simulate the user’s voice for a personalized experience. This is currently unavailable and will be added as a preview in early 2025.
Copilot action feature announced
During Ignite 2024, Microsoft also announced several new features for Copilot. Among them, Copilot Actions will allow users to automate repetitive daily tasks such as gathering input from colleagues, receiving a summary of action items at the end of the day, and more. Users can automate such tasks by setting up one-time completion prompts. Once activated, the feature completes the task every day without any manual intervention. This is available in private preview.
Copilot action
Photo credits: Microsoft
Apart from this, Copilot Pages also gets a new feature called rich artifacts. It can generate interactive flowcharts, code blocks and more with simple text prompts. Copilot in PowerPoint also gets a translation feature that can translate entire presentations into any of the 40 supported languages. Teams is also getting a quick summary feature, which allows users to upload a file in a chat and get a summary without having to open the file. All these features will be available in public preview next year.
