Updated
Updated · Microsoft · Aug 10
Microsoft 365 Copilot Shows 5 Steps to Build AI Agents Without Coding
Updated
Updated · Microsoft · Aug 10

Microsoft 365 Copilot Shows 5 Steps to Build AI Agents Without Coding

3 articles · Updated · Microsoft · Aug 10

Summary

  • Microsoft published a no-code guide showing how users can build and share AI agents in Microsoft 365 Copilot, starting from the “Agents” tab in Copilot Chat.
  • The 5-step process begins with defining a specific work problem, then checking for prebuilt agents before creating a new one in plain language and refining its behavior, tone and tasks.
  • Users are then told to connect the agent to sources such as emails, documents, SharePoint sites or websites, and to specify outputs like reports, presentations, spreadsheets, responses or code.
  • Examples center on workplace automation, including sorting shared inboxes, drafting replies, compiling weekly status reports and flagging suspicious activity such as unusual logins.
  • Microsoft frames agents as different from chat apps because they can take action, with the guide aimed at helping workers prototype useful automations first and improve them over time.

Insights

As Microsoft pushes AI to take independent action, what happens when an employee's autonomous agent makes a catastrophic business error?
With anyone able to build an AI agent, how will companies prevent a massive, uncontrollable sprawl of automated bots accessing sensitive data?
Could the time spent debugging custom AI agents actually destroy the very workplace productivity they were built to save?