Microsoft to Introduce AI Agent Building Tools in Copilot Studio

In November, Microsoft plans to roll out a November public preview of a new feature within Copilot Studio, allowing users to create autonomous AI "agents" designed to handle routine tasks. The move is part of Microsoft's broader push to help organizations automate workflows through more agile, programmable versions of its Copilot chatbot. In a blog post, Microsoft 365 chief marketing officer Jared Spataro called these agents "the new apps for an AI-powered world."

"Every organization will have a constellation of agents," Spataro predicted, "ranging from simple prompt-and-response to fully autonomous. They will work on behalf of an individual, team or function to execute and orchestrate businesses process."

Launched last year, Copilot Studio connects the Copilot AI to an organization's various data sources, from the Microsoft Graph to Dynamics 365. With November's public preview, users will be able to build their own agents within Copilot Studio and train them on those same data sources.

The agents will be able to run on a variety of AI models, including OpenAI's "o1" model, which is optimized for reasoning through complex problems. Agents are meant to run largely without human intervention. They can be scheduled to run at set intervals, or programmed to perform actions in response to specific triggers from other applications or tools.

Though agents act autonomously, Microsoft users will be able to view their internal logic for each task that they resolve. Knowing why an agent reacts to a trigger will help users reinforce correct behavior or debug undesired behavior. Additionally, an "Activity" tab will keep a running log of each time an agent is triggered into action, with details such as task completion, decisions and more.

For more information about the agent-building capability in Copilot Studio, visit this blog post.

About the Author

Gladys Rama (@GladysRama3) is the editorial director of Converge360.

Featured

  • circuit patterns

    Anthropic Intros Lower-Cost Claude Sonnet 5

    Anthropic has launched Claude Sonnet 5, positioning the model as its most autonomous mid-tier offering to date and a lower-cost alternative to its flagship Opus 4.8 system. The company said the model can plan multi-step tasks, operate tools such as browsers and terminals, and complete agentic work at a level that previously required larger and more expensive models.

  • digital lock

    CoSN: Cybersecurity and Data Privacy Remain Top AI Concerns in Education

    A leading concern for education technology leaders across the United States is the potential for AI to enable new forms of cyber attacks, according to the latest State of Ed Tech report from CoSN.

  • abstract smartphone translucent screen displaying AI interface

    Apple Unveils Redesigned Siri AI

    At its recent Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple announced Siri AI, a redesigned version of its voice assistant that Apple describes in its own announcement as "a profoundly more capable and personal assistant." The update is intended to make Siri more conversational, more context-aware, and more useful across iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Vision Pro.

  • large cloud icon on the right in an abstract world above a polygon with a dark blue background

    Cloud Security Alliance Expands Agentic AI Governance Work

    The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) has announced a series of CSAI Foundation milestones aimed at securing what it calls the agentic control plane, including a new catastrophic risk initiative, CVE Numbering Authority authorization, and the acquisition of two agentic AI specifications.