Microsoft Copilot Studio to Let Businesses Build AI Agents for Streamlining Operations Next Month

Earlier this year, Microsoft detailed a new set of features coming to Copilot Studio, designed to help businesses create autonomous agents from the ground up. The company announced today that these advanced capabilities will be available for enterprise customers in public preview next month.

“Copilot Studio provides an all-in-one platform for building agents, with managed SaaS infrastructure, AI models, a low-code design interface, and thousands of prebuilt connectors. It integrates personal, business, and analytical data, and enables publishing to Copilot, web, and your apps. These new capabilities allow agents to act independently, initiate events, and automate complex business tasks,” Microsoft explained.

How Copilot Studio’s autonomous agents will transform enterprise workflow automation

Microsoft explains that Copilot agents can be set to trigger automatically based on events from various sources, such as tools, systems, or databases, using an organization’s own data. Users will also have access to detailed logs showing how each agent completes tasks, including key steps, systems involved, and actions taken along the way.

Copilot Studio is also adding a new “Activity” tab that provides a comprehensive overview of the agent’s activities. It should help users to track progress, troubleshoot issues, analyze performance trends, and review previous decisions.

Microsoft emphasized that these autonomous agents use OpenAI o1 and other advanced models to boost their AI and reasoning abilities. To ensure safe and responsible use, the agents come with built-in guardrails and controls, allowing creators to set clear guidelines and permissions.

Additionally, enterprise customers will have the ability to manage the entire lifecycle of agents, from creation to retirement. They can also set policies for resource usage, access permissions, and publishing to ensure efficient and controlled operations.

New autonomous agents coming to Dynamics 365

Last but not least, Microsoft plans to add ten new autonomous agents to Dynamics 365, which will be available in public preview later this year. These agents should help small businesses to automate tasks in various departments, including sales, service, finance, and supply chain.

These include the Sales Qualification Agent, Supplier Communications Agent, Sales Order Agent, Financial Reconciliation Agent, Account Reconciliation Agent, Time and Expense Agent, Customer Intent and Customer Knowledge Management Agents, Case Management Agent, and Scheduling Operations Agent.