Beginning next month, Microsoft will permit the development of autonomous AI agents

Microsoft announced on Monday that it will enable customers to create autonomous artificial intelligence agents beginning in November, marking its latest effort to capitalize on the rapidly growing AI sector.

The tech giant is marketing these autonomous agents—programs that require minimal human oversight, unlike traditional chatbots—as "applications for an AI-driven world." These agents can handle customer inquiries, identify sales opportunities, and manage inventory.

Other major tech companies, including Salesforce, have also highlighted the potential of such agents, which some analysts believe could offer businesses a simpler route to monetizing the substantial investments they are making in AI.

Microsoft's Copilot Studio, an application that requires little coding knowledge, will allow customers to develop autonomous agents in public preview starting next month. The company will utilize various AI models created both internally and by OpenAI for these agents.

Additionally, Microsoft is launching ten ready-to-use agents designed to assist with everyday tasks such as supply chain management, expense tracking, and client communications.

In one demonstration, McKinsey & Co, which gained early access to these tools, created an agent capable of managing client inquiries by reviewing interaction history, identifying the appropriate consultant for the task, and scheduling follow-up meetings.

"The concept is that Copilot serves as the user interface for AI," Charles Lamanna, corporate vice president of business and industry Copilot at Microsoft, told Reuters. "Every employee will have a Copilot, their personalized AI agent, which they will use to interact with the multitude of AI agents available."

Tech giants are under pressure from investors to demonstrate returns on their substantial AI investments. Microsoft's shares dropped 2.8% in the September quarter, lagging behind the S&P 500, though they remain over 10% higher for the year.

In recent months, concerns have emerged about the speed of Copilot adoption. A survey conducted by research firm Gartner in August revealed that most of the 152 IT organizations surveyed had not advanced their Copilot initiatives beyond the pilot stage.

Paraphrasing text from "Reuters" all rights reserved by the original author.