Microsoft announces several new out-of-the-box agents in Microsoft 365

AI agents are the next big thing in the industry. These agents can act independently, initiate events, complete tasks, and more. Last month, Microsoft announced that enterprise customers can use Copilot Studio to create their own AI agents.

Last month, Microsoft also announced ten new autonomous agents in Dynamics 365 to support sales, service, finance, and supply chain teams. At Ignite 2024, Microsoft today announced agents in Microsoft 365 that can improve business processes and individual productivity.

These new out-of-the-box, purpose-built agents in Microsoft 365 Copilot will complement the already announced autonomous agents. Read about the new agents below:

• Agents in SharePoint: With Agents in SharePoint, users can create their own agents based on specific SharePoint files, folders, or sites. The created agents can have their own names and can be shared across emails, meetings, and chats. These new agents in SharePoint are now generally available.
• Employee Self-Service Agent: The Employee Self-Service Agent in Microsoft 365 Copilot Business Chat (BizChat) can be used by employees to learn about their benefits and payroll information, initiate leave, request new hardware, and more. This new Employee Self-Service agent is in private preview.
• Facilitator agent: The Facilitator agent available within Teams meetings and chats can take real-time notes. In Teams chats, the Facilitator agent can share a summary of important information as the conversation happens. This Facilitator agent is in preview.
• Interpreter agent: The Interpreter agent brings real-time interpretation to Teams meetings. It supports up to nine languages. Users can also have the Interpreter agent simulate their personal voice for a personalized experience. This Interpreter agent will be in preview early next year.
• Project Manager agent: The new Project Manager agent will automate project management in Planner with the ability to automatically create a new plan, assign tasks, track progress, and more. This Project Manager agent is in preview.

Microsoft has plans to release many more agents in 2025 that will help organizations complete their tasks more effectively with less effort.