Microsoft to Let Clients Build AI Agents for Routine Tasks From November

Microsoft will allow its customers to build autonomous AI agents starting next month, its latest effort to capitalize on the booming technology amid growing investor scrutiny of its huge AI investments.

The company positions autonomous agents - programs that, unlike chatbots, require little human intervention - as “apps for an AI-driven world” that can handle customer inquiries, identify sales leads and manage inventory.

Its customers can create such agents using Copilot Studio, an application that requires little to no knowledge of computer code, with a public preview starting in November. Microsoft is using several AI models developed in-house and by OpenAI to create the agents. Ten ready-to-use agents will also be available that can help with day-to-day tasks ranging from supply chain management to expense tracking and customer communications.

Customers create an agent that can manage customer inquiries by checking interaction history, identifying task advisors and scheduling follow-up meetings. Each employee will have a Copilot, their personalized AI agent, which they will then use to interface and interact with a sea of AI agents.