Microsoft suggests that corporate employees will soon be attending meetings with work-capable AI “agents.”
Online meeting through Microsoft Teams, PHOTO: Shutterstock
Microsoft has hinted at what it calls “a new class” of AI agents “operating as independent users within the enterprise workforce,” The Register reports.
“Each engineered agent has its own identity, dedicated access to the organization's systems and applications, and the ability to collaborate with people and other agents,” a Microsoft product roadmap document says. “These agents can attend meetings [virtuale]edit documents, communicate via email and chat and perform tasks autonomously”, he notes.
So-called “AI agents” are considered the next step in the evolution of current artificial intelligence systems. Unlike a simple chatbot, they are designed to work with a high degree of autonomy, with minimal human input, to complete a series of specialized tasks head-to-head.
Kevin Scott, the chief technology officer of the company founded by Bill Gates, said earlier this year that Microsoft is working on AI agents that can collaborate with each other, including from other companies, and “remember” things.
Question marks related to the Microsoft project
As for the new public documents, Rich Gibbons, a Microsoft licensing specialist, believes they refer to a product called “Agent 365”. Joao Ferreira, another Microsoft product specialist, says the “agents” developed under this project will have their own email address, Teams account and even a place on the company's organizational chart.
“They can attend meetings, send and receive emails and messages, access the organization's data and learn from interactions to improve over time,” it says.
Microsoft documents suggest that the agents will debut in late November.
“In addition to licensing and cost issues, I also wonder how does an organization manage these agents?” Gibbons asked in an analysis. “If they can attend meetings and send emails/messages to people – what happens if they get out of control? They could send sensitive data to the wrong people, provide incorrect information or send strange or offensive messages… how to prevent, monitor and act in such cases?”, asks the specialist.
