Microsoft will allow its customers to build their own AI agents starting in November 2024. AI agents are autonomous software that can interpret their environment and perform various tasks without human intervention. This is the latest step taken by Microsoft to adopt AI technology amidst growing investor scrutiny over its AI investments.
To learn more about AI agentic workflow, read here.
Earlier this year, Dr Andrew Ng, founder of DeepLearning.AI, stated that AI agents will be the major component of AI development in 2024. Unlike chatbots, which require some human control, AI agents can make decisions and perform different functions autonomously without human interference.
Microsoft will allow users to use its Copilot Studio, a low-code tool with an AI-powered conversational interface to simplify building AI agents. It is based on several in-house AI models and those supported by OpenAI. Microsoft is also offering ten ready-to-use AI agents that can perform routine tasks such as managing supply chain, expense monitoring, or client communications.
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As a demo, McKinsey and Co. created an AI agent that can manage client queries using interaction history. It also finds a consultant expert who can solve the specific queries and schedule a follow-up meeting.
Charles Lamanna, corporate vice president of business and industry Copilot at Microsoft, said, “The idea is that Copilot is the user interface for AI. Every employee will use it as a personalized AI agent that provides an interface to interact with numerous other AI agents.”
Microsoft is under pressure to show returns on the hefty investments made by investors for developing its AI services. The tech giant’s shares fell 2.8% in the September quarter, underperforming on the S&P index. However, they are still at 10% higher for the year.
