Microsoft Unveils 5 A.I. Agents as Big Tech Ushers Into the ‘Agentic A.I.’ Era

After dedicating unprecedented resources to creating A.I. tools that require prompts from users, major tech companies are now moving on to the technology’s next phase: “Agentic A.I.,” as Silicon Valley calls it. The term describes A.I. agents that can take action and complete tasks without human oversight. At the annual Microsoft Ignite conference today (Nov. 19), the tech giant unveiled a slew of new A.I. agents across its Microsoft 365 suite, which encompasses desktop applications like Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

“The best way to think about these are just as your teammates,” said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella of the new agents during a keynote presentation today.

The lineup of specialized personal assistants includes the “Facilitator Agent,” which will take real-time notes within Teams meetings and share follow-up summaries, and the “Project Manager Agent,” which will work within Microsoft Planner to automate project management tasks like plan creation and task execution. Employees will also soon be able to rely on the “Interpreter Agent,” an A.I. assistant that will provide real-time interpretation in up to nine languages to ease workplace communication.

Microsoft’s agent expansion follows last month’s introduction of 10 autonomous agents within the company’s business solution-focused Dynamics 365 suite. With capabilities that include communicating with suppliers, researching sales opportunities and understanding consumer intent, the agents are largely expected to operate without human intervention.

Microsoft is also giving business the opportunity to create their own autonomous agents via an update to its Copilot Studio, an A.I. platform that allows users to build custom digital assistants. “Sometimes we mysticize these agents as things that take a lot of effort to build,” Nadella said. “Our vision is that it should be as simple as creating a Word doc or a PowerPoint slide.”

Microsoft’s push into “Agentic A.I.” hasn’t been without its challenges. As its focus tightens around A.I. agents, the company’s rivalry has escalated with direct competitors like Salesforce, which in October released its own autonomous A.I. agents through its Agentforce platform.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff last month described Microsoft’s agent pivot as “panic mode” in a post on X. A vocal critic of Microsoft’s A.I. products, Benioff has also previously compared Microsoft Copilot to Clippy, the unpopular paperclip-shaped digital assistant released by the company in the 1990s.

Despite its detractors, Microsoft says its repositioned A.I. position is guided by an overarching goal to empower users to make an impact with technology. “The trouble with artificial intelligence is that computers don’t give a damn,” said Nadella during Microsoft Ignite, quoting the late American philosopher John Haugeland. “But we do,” added the Microsoft CEO, who noted that the company’s A.I. tools will help drive business transformations and improve efficiency. “It’s not about tech for tech’s sake, but it’s about translating it into real outcomes.”