Like fellow tech developers Google and OpenAI, who have both also had conferences this week, Microsoft Build 2024 focused largely on new AI tools. One major new addition for the company is Team Copilot, an AI chatbot designed to act as a co-worker for teams and companies, leveraging shared knowledge to respond to questions and queries. This feature is similar in kind to Google’s AI Teammate, announced at Google I/O last week.
In addition to Team Copilot, Microsoft announced Copilot Agents, AI assistants for employees and co-workers. These agents are also similar to a product Google revealed at its recent event.
According to Microsoft, Copilot Agents can “independently and proactively orchestrate tasks for you.” Users can create a custom job description for Copilot or choose from pre-made templates. The AI agent then works in the background to complete the assigned tasks.
Copilot can seek help when it encounters challenges or needs more information. It can also refer to its existing knowledge and learn from new feedback to complete tasks.
Users can build Copilot agents in Copilot Studio, which Microsoft claims is user-friendly enough for anyone to automate tasks. This concept is similar to Google’s AI Agents, which were showcased handling tasks like product refunds. Microsoft’s examples focused on business applications, such as onboarding new employees.
Neither Microsoft’s Copilot Agents nor Google’s AI Agents are currently available to the public. Microsoft is testing Copilot Agents with a select group and plans to offer a public preview later this year.
