On Monday, October 21st local time, Microsoft announced the launch of a new set of AI tools to help teams work more efficiently within the company.
Previously, several software companies in Salesforce have announced similar AI capabilities.
Dynamics 365's new autonomous agent
Microsoft has announced the introduction of 10 new autonomous agents in Dynamics 365, which can understand how to work on their own without the need for human instruction. These tools can also use the company's existing work data to improve the efficiency of various teams and reduce repetitive work.
These AI applications can be personalized and customized through Copilot Studio, and are expected to begin public testing next month. Microsoft stated that these tools are a further upgrade of generative AI Copilot.
These autonomous agents of Microsoft can automatically handle specific tasks. Microsoft explains that these "agents" will look at the work data of users in some of Microsoft's services, such as Microsoft 365 Graph, Recording System, Kubernetes, and Fabric, and then help users complete various tasks based on this data.
They can do many things, such as handling IT issues, helping new employees familiarize themselves with their work, providing personalized assistance to sales and service personnel, and even automating supply chain management, helping large companies save money, time, and make employees more efficient.
Microsoft earlier launched a series of powerful new features in Copilot Studio, allowing users to create and customize autonomous agents according to their own needs. Next month, these features will be open for public trial from internal testing, so that more users can use AI to reimagine critical business processes.
Microsoft's next step is to create "agents" that can complete fixed tasks without human intervention. They use the reasoning ability of generative AI, combined with existing databases and software, to work. Software companies such as ServiceNow, Workday, HubSpot, and SAP are now emphasizing the development of such AI agents.
Investors focus on the effectiveness of AI
Microsoft is not the only commercial software provider that wants to profit from the AI boom. Google and Salesforce are also actively competing for market share, with Google constantly adding new features to its Gemini platform for Google Workspace, while Salesforce has launched its own AI product and Einstein Copilot.
Salesforce, as a leader in customer management software, launched a similar tool at the recent Dreamforce conference, stating that its agents can independently handle customer service tasks. Salesforce's Agentforce tool will be officially launched later this month, with an initial price of approximately $2 per conversation. However, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff recently criticized Microsoft's products for not doing well enough, stating that its Copilot delivery was disappointing.
Microsoft has not yet announced the pricing of its proprietary agent, and Copilot Studio, a custom agent building tool, is included in Microsoft 365 Copilot for $30 per user per month.
As the earnings season begins, Wall Street is paying close attention to the AI spending and profit growth of tech companies. Microsoft and its competitors need to demonstrate their ability to continuously attract more customers to use AI services in response to investor pressure. Microsoft's move aims to actively seek new ways of profitability, better compete with competitors such as Salesforce, and leverage its partnership with OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, to obtain returns on AI investment.
Previously, Microsoft's Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood stated in her quarterly report released on July 30th Eastern Time that the company had spent $19 billion on capital expenditures (including finance leases), most of which were for AI and cloud related needs. Microsoft's capital expenditures for the fiscal year 2024 reached $55.7 billion, a significant increase from $31.9 billion in 2023 and $29.2 billion in 2022.
Microsoft's Copilot platform serves approximately 2.1 million business users per month, and Microsoft hopes to further increase this number. This platform is crucial for improving work efficiency, and Microsoft hopes to generate revenue from companies that utilize the software to enhance overall employee efficiency. In the fourth quarter, Microsoft's cloud services (including AI) revenue was $36.8 billion, accounting for more than half of the total revenue of $64.7 billion, a year-on-year increase of 21%.