Microsoft is expanding its Microsoft 365 Copilot platform with new agents, image-generation tools, and an AI-powered company search.
The update, referred to as "Copilot Wave 2," introduces adaptive memory features and builds on newer OpenAI models to support autonomous decision-making and task execution. It introduces two new agent types—Researcher and Analyst—both powered by OpenAI’s latest o3-models.
The Researcher agent is based on OpenAI’s o3 Deep Research model. It pulls data from emails, meetings, files, chats, and the web to generate outputs such as market analyses, strategy documents, and customer reports. According to Microsoft, third-party data from platforms like Salesforce, ServiceNow, or Confluence can also be included via connectors. Additional agents, such as "Sales Chat," support the collection of relevant data.
The Analyst agent runs on OpenAI’s o3-mini model and focuses on data-driven analysis. It applies "chain-of-thought" reasoning to process multi-step analytical workflows and is capable of executing and displaying Python code. The goal is to derive insights from unstructured data, such as segment analyses, demand forecasting, or sales projections.
Both agents will be made available to Copilot license holders through Microsoft’s "Frontier" program, with a broader rollout planned via the Microsoft 365 Copilot app in the near future.
Alongside the new agents, Microsoft is expanding Copilot Studio, a platform for building and automating agents using reasoning models. According to Microsoft, these agents are intended to "execute complex and multi-faceted business processes." Users can design multi-step workflows using what the company calls "agent flows."
The updated Microsoft 365 Copilot app will serve as the central hub for all agent-related functions. A new "Agent Store" allows integration of external agents from platforms like Jira, Miro, and Monday.com, as well as management of custom-built agents.
New tools for image generation, search, and knowledge curation
Microsoft is also adding image generation capabilities through integration with OpenAI’s multimodal GPT-4o model. The feature, called "Create," can be used to generate marketing content such as brand-compliant images and videos.
Another new feature, Copilot Notebooks, organizes content from texts, files, and meetings into automatically updated knowledge collections. These can also be accessed in the form of audio summaries.
Finally, Microsoft is introducing Copilot Search, a contextual AI-powered enterprise search tool. It provides cross-platform answers by pulling information from sources including Slack, Google Drive, Jira, and ServiceNow.
