Microsoft to Enable Autonomous AI Agent Development Starting Next Month
Microsoft announced on Monday that starting in November, customers will be able to develop autonomous AI agents, marking the company’s latest effort to capitalize on the rapidly growing AI industry.
These autonomous agents—unlike traditional chatbots—require minimal human oversight and are being positioned as “apps for an AI-driven world.” They can handle tasks such as responding to customer inquiries, identifying sales leads, and managing inventory. Major tech companies like Salesforce have also been promoting the potential of these agents, which analysts suggest could help companies monetize the billions invested in AI.
Microsoft’s customers will be able to create these autonomous agents using Copilot Studio, a tool designed for users with limited coding experience. The service will be available in public preview starting in November, leveraging AI models developed both in-house and by OpenAI.
Additionally, Microsoft is launching ten pre-built agents designed to assist with tasks such as supply chain management, expense tracking, and client communications.
In one demonstration, consulting firm McKinsey & Co., which had early access to the tools, created an agent capable of managing client inquiries by reviewing interaction history, assigning the right consultant, and scheduling follow-up meetings.
“Copilot is envisioned as the user interface for AI,” said Charles Lamanna, Microsoft’s corporate vice president for business and industry Copilot. “Every employee will have their own Copilot, a personalized AI agent, and they will use it to interact with a variety of AI agents.”
As tech giants face pressure from investors to generate returns on their substantial AI investments, Microsoft’s stock fell 2.8% in the September quarter, lagging behind the S&P 500, though it remains over 10% higher for the year.
However, some concerns about the pace of Copilot adoption have surfaced. In August, research firm Gartner reported that most of the 152 IT organizations surveyed had not moved beyond the pilot phase of their Copilot initiatives.

Kerry is a Content Creator at www.systemtek.co.uk she has spent many years working in IT support, her main interests are computing, networking and AI.