Microsoft Unveils New Reasoning AI Agents in Microsoft 365 Copilot

Microsoft has announced two new artificial intelligence (AI) reasoning agents- Researcher and Analyst - within Microsoft 365 Copilot, designed to help users process complex data and enhance productivity. 

The AI-powered agents, available to select customers in April 2025 via the Microsoft Copilot Frontier programme, provide secure, compliant access to users’ work data while integrating information from third-party sources. 

Researcher combines OpenAI’s research model with Microsoft’s data orchestration, pulling insights from internal documents, the web and third-party platforms like Salesforce and ServiceNow. The agent simplifies complex tasks by gathering, synthesising and citing information. 

Meanwhile, Analyst performs like a data scientist, applying advanced reasoning and Python execution to analyse raw data. It delivers forecasts, visualisations, and insights directly within work documents and spreadsheets.

“Researcher and Analyst are reasoning agents designed to tackle complex tasks by breaking them down, reasoning through them, and acting. With these new agents, we’re moving beyond simple question-and-answer prompts to Copilot acting as a true collaborative partner,” says Microsoft.

In addition, Microsoft announced new deep reasoning, and agent flows in Microsoft Copilot Studio, its platform designed to help users create, manage and deploy AI agents for their businesses. The new upgrades allow users to create autonomous agents capable of initiating and automating complex business tasks. 

“IT teams can confidently adopt all these innovations by using the Copilot Control System. It enables intelligent grounding on enterprise data while respecting your organization’s controls, and it empowers IT to govern access and usage of Copilot and agents,” added Microsoft.