Picsum ID: 1064
Microsoft Copilot: Now Building Apps and Automating Your Job
Microsoft is making a bold move to merge artificial intelligence with software development. The tech giant is expanding its Copilot AI assistant, introducing tools that allow employees to build applications, automate workflows, and create specialized AI agents using simple conversational prompts. This innovative approach, called App Builder and Workflows, aims to empower the estimated 100 million Microsoft 365 users to create business tools with ease, similar to drafting emails or building spreadsheets. (Source: VentureBeat)
Copilot: A Comprehensive Development Environment
The new features transform Copilot from a conversational assistant into a comprehensive development environment for non-technical workers. Users can now describe an application they need, such as a project tracker with dashboards and task assignments, and Copilot will generate a working app, complete with a database backend, user interface, and security controls. The App Builder stores data in Microsoft Lists and allows users to share finished applications via a simple link, similar to sharing a document. The Workflows agent automates routine tasks across Microsoft’s ecosystem of products, including Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, and Planner, converting natural language descriptions into automated processes.
A simplified version of Microsoft’s Copilot Studio agent-building platform lets users create specialized AI assistants tailored to specific tasks or knowledge domains, drawing from SharePoint documents, meeting transcripts, emails, and external systems. All three capabilities are included in the existing $30-per-month Microsoft 365 Copilot subscription at no additional cost.
Nine Years of Low-Code Development Pay Off
These new tools are the culmination of a nine-year effort by Microsoft to democratize software development through its Power Platform, a collection of low-code and no-code development tools. Charles Lamanna, Microsoft’s president of business and industry Copilot, said that the integration into Copilot marks a fundamental shift in how these capabilities reach users. Instead of visiting a separate website or learning a specialized interface, the development tools now exist within the same conversational window they already use for AI-assisted tasks.
Because Copilot already indexes a user’s Microsoft 365 content, it can incorporate that context into the applications and workflows it builds. Microsoft claims the apps created through these tools are “full-stack applications” with proper databases secured through the same identity systems used across its enterprise products. The company also emphasized that its existing governance, security, and data loss prevention policies automatically apply to apps and workflows created through Copilot.
Where Professional Developers Still Matter
While Microsoft positions the new capabilities as accessible to all office workers, Lamanna was careful to delineate where professional developers remain essential. Anything that leaves the boundaries of your company warrants developer involvement. For internal use cases, Microsoft believes the new tools can handle the majority of needs without IT department involvement. The company has built “no cliffs,” allowing users to migrate simple apps to more sophisticated platforms as needs grow.
IT administrators can view all applications, workflows, and agents created within their organization through a centralized inventory in the Microsoft 365 admin center. They can reassign ownership, disable access at the group level, or “promote” particularly useful employee-created apps to officially supported status. (Source: VentureBeat)
Microsoft’s ambitions extend far beyond incremental productivity gains. Lamanna envisions a fundamental transformation of what it means to be an office worker, where building software becomes as routine as creating spreadsheets. The company is betting that the same natural language interface that made ChatGPT accessible to millions can finally unlock the decades-old promise of empowering everyday workers to build their own tools.
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