Microsoft today showcased a slew of agentic artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities that will be embedded into its personal productivity application portfolio.
Announced at the Microsoft Ignite 2024 conference, the additions to the Microsoft Copilot span everything from purpose-built AI agents of Microsoft 365 applications to giving end users the ability to create and train their own AI agents.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told conference attendees that Microsoft Copilot is really a framework for enabling anyone to invoke thousands of AI agents in a way that adapts to individual preferences.
For example, AI agents for Microsoft SharePoint make it possible for end users to create their own agents for files, folders and Web sites that drive a specific business process. A Narrative Builder agent will soon also enable end users to convert data from a document into presentations complete with branded designs from templates, speaker notes and built-in transitions and animations. Copilot will also translate an entire PowerPoint presentation into one of 40 languages.
Similarly, an AI agent of project management can automatically create a plan based on the data it has been exposed to by an end user. Microsoft is also previewing an Interpreter Agent, due out next year, that enables users speaking in up to nine different languages to both speak to each other in real time and analyze shared content.
Additionally, Microsoft 365 Copilot Actions, a set of customizable prompt templates available in a private preview, will make it possible to delegate tasks to any agent.
Microsoft is also now previewing a set of analytics tools, dubbed Viva Insights, for tracking the business impact of Microsoft Copilot. There are tools for discovering prompts and identifying which ones are being widely used across an organization.
Finally, Microsoft is adding generative AI capabilities to the Power low-code programming language that is widely used to build applications. In addition to being able to build agents, Copilot will also, for example, be able to define the business problem and then review proposed roles and requirements. Copilots for Microsoft Power can also be used to automate cloud workflows and robotic process automation (RPA) applications.
An International Data Corp (IDC) survey commissioned by Microsoft organizations that aggressively adopt AI are realizing a 10x return on their investment. For every $1 a company invests in generative AI, the return on that investment (ROI) is $3.70, the survey finds.
On average, AI deployments take less than eight months and organizations are realizing value within 13 months.
More than half of those surveyed expect to build custom applications in the next 24 months, the survey finds.
Overall, the survey notes that the top barrier to implementing AI is still a lack of skills.
Each organization will, of course, need to determine to what degree to rely on AI to automate various tasks, but the one thing that is certain is individual productivity is going to exponentially increase. The only thing left to determine is how much that increase in productivity will improve the bottom line of the organization.
