Ignite 2024: Microsoft 365 Copilot Actions Launch in Private Preview

Microsoft is kicking off its annual Ignite conference for IT pros in Chicago this morning, and the company has a lot of updates for Microsoft 365 Copilot, its collection of generative AI features for commercial customers. The software giant said this morning that nearly 70% of the Fortune 500 now use Microsoft 365 Copilot, and Microsoft wants to keep the momentum going with new capabilities.

First of all, Copilot Actions in Microsoft 365 are now available in private preview. These new actions will allow commercial customers to automate tasks across Microsoft 365 apps using simple prompts.

“For example, you can automatically receive a summary of your most important action items at the end of each workday; create an action to gather inputs from your team for a weekly newsletter you send each Thursday; or automate customer meeting prep with a recurring action that summarizes your last few interactions ahead of your next sync,” explained Jared Spataro, CMO, AI at Work.

The new Copilot Pages that Microsoft launched in September are also getting better. These Pages currently let Microsoft 365 Copilot customers save a conversation with the AI assistant and share it as page that can be edited by coworkers. Early next year, Microsoft will add “rich artifacts” to these Copilot Pages, which means that the assistant will be able to add charts, code, and other type of content to these pages using data from the organization.

Microsoft also announced the upcoming availability of new Microsoft 365 Copilot features in its Office app. Later this month, Copilot in Outlook will be able to use calendar data to help users find the best time to schedule meetings and draft a meeting agenda. In early 2025, Copilot in Teams will be able to answer questions regarding what’s being displayed on the screen and summarize files sent in a chat. Next year, Copilot in PowerPoint will also get the ability to translate entire presentations into 40 languages.

Autonomous agents in Microsoft 365 launch in public preview

The custom Copilots with agent capabilities that launched in private preview earlier this year are now available in public preview. These autonomous agents can be created using natural language prompts or a graphical interface in Copilot Studio, and they can automate various business processes.

These new AI Agents can be designed to take notes in real-time during a Teams meeting, automate project management in Planner, and more. They will complement the existing autonomous agents in Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365 that Microsoft announced last month for sales, service, finance, and supply chain professionals. “We will create many more agents in the coming year that will give customers the competitive advantage they need to future-proof their organization,” Spataro explained today.

With Copilot Studio, Microsoft is making it straightforward to create agents and connect them to relevant business data including emails, reports, and customer management systems. Copilot Studio is also adding support for third-party sources such as Salesforce, ServiceNow, and Zendesk.