Microsoft isn't necessarily the first name that comes to mind for generative AI, but the company is steadily making inroads into the field, and between its Copilot+-branded laptops and the Copilot feature in Office, its AI offerings are pretty solid

And as Axios reported, Microsoft has updated its generative AI features, including automated agents, new features in the Copilot assistant, and new collaboration tools, and they just got better

The most significant change coming to Microsoft's generative AI tools is something called Copilot Pages Essentially, this is a document within the BizChat app that allows workers to collaborate on AI tools just as they would with traditional documents Microsoft describes this as “a dynamic, persistent canvas designed for multi-player AI collaboration It is the first new digital artifact of the AI era”

Copilot pages are intended to anchor ephemeral AI-generated content with options to edit, add to, and share with others

The next part of Microsoft's new AI wave is improvements to Copilot for Microsoft 365 apps It is extending AI capabilities to Microsoft Excel for data analysis, PowerPoint for AI-generated storytelling, and Outlook for better inbox management Microsoft says it is “taking everything we learn from our customers and using it to make Copilot even better”

Microsoft cites using Copilot to perform advanced data analysis that would be difficult without extensive knowledge and experience Tasks such as forecasting, risk analysis, machine learning, and complex data visualization can be performed using natural language instead of complex coding

Another example is Prioritize my inbox, which uses AI to help you focus on the most important messages It can also summarize emails to help you get to the point more quickly

Finally, Microsoft has introduced the Copilot agent This is designed to make it easier and faster to automate and execute business processes on behalf of the company through AI automation According to Microsoft, these are “AI assistants designed to automate and execute business processes with or for humans” Some are simple agents that respond to prompts, while others are complex agents that function autonomously

These agents are almost like another team member The company cites the ability to refer to an agent as any other teammate in order to ask questions and get real-time answers Using agents as a knowledge resource for the team saves time by allowing them to ask questions about different policies and workflows without having to consult their supervisors

For creating these custom agents, Microsoft has introduced the Agent Builder

Of course, whether this will catch on depends on how reluctant companies are to delegate important functions to AI instead of humans Agents seem beneficial, but automated agents running in the background sound a bit scary to companies just starting to get their feet wet in generative AI

In any case, this is a long-term commitment for Microsoft, and the company says to expect more “in the next two months” The company says it will share “more about how Copilot is improving productivity and accelerating business value for all of our customers”