(Credit: Microsoft)
Microsoft will make autonomous AI agents available next month for Copilot Studio and Dynamics 365 users, according to a post published Monday.
This means those with Copilot Studio—Microsoft's platform that lets you create your own custom Copilot—can cook up their own autonomous agents that can complete tasks or provide information. Microsoft's business platform Dynamics 365 will also get 10 different pre-made autonomous agent options to choose from to deploy across a business.
The 10 agents include a "Sales Qualification Agent," a "Supplier Communications Agent," a "Customer Intent Agent," and a "Customer Knowledge Management Agent." The latter two agents are designed to work with customer service reps and provide links to existing help articles.
Microsoft Copilot Studio costs $200 a month for 25,000 monthly messages, but users can create their own custom AI agents across multiple channels at this rate. Microsoft 365 Copilot with AI agent creation costs $30 a month, but requires an annual commitment.
Copilot has already been deployed at other companies—and doing work employees could otherwise complete. Microsoft says this is a huge win for companies and "empowers" staff.
"Honeywell equates productivity gains to adding 187 full-time employees," Microsoft said of the firm's Copilot use—a statement that suggests using AI could save companies money by having fewer staff.
If you give Copilot access to your internal company accounts and data, the Copilot autonomous agents can assist with everything from the "IT help desk to employee onboarding and act as a personal concierge for sales and service."
While adding AI agents to corporate IT, HR, and administrative departments could mean existing staff could do their jobs faster, it could also mean companies may no longer see the need for as many employees and result in job losses when fewer get more done. AI models can also hallucinate, resulting in made-up or incorrect answers—a problem Microsoft is trying to use more AI to solve.
Using AI to complete cumbersome tasks at work may be great for some, but AI more broadly has already led to job losses and may continue to do so. A Goldman Sachs report from last year predicted that AI could elevate global GDP by 7 percent—but 300 million people may lose their jobs within the next 10 years as a result.
Reached for comment on AI agents' potential impacts on the job market more broadly, a Microsoft spokesperson compared AI to other tech evolutions like the printing press and the PC. "AI is revolutionizing work, and agents will speed up these shifts. While some roles will evolve, even more new jobs will be created," the rep tells PCMag via email.
Editor's Note: This story has been update to include comment from Microsoft.