Microsoft aims to make AI agents smarter and monitor them better with Agent 365

Microsoft has announced several new Artificial Intelligence (AI) products and features. For example, expanded access to corporate data is intended to make AI agents more intelligent, enabling them to better support people. Microsoft's “Agent Factory” is designed to simplify the creation of custom AI agents, while “Agent 365” serves to manage and control these AI agents. This control plane is intended to ensure the secure use of AI agents.

These and other announcements were made at the in-house trade fair “Ignite 2025,” where Microsoft repeatedly emphasizes that AI serves to support people and employees. According to the corporation, modern companies will in the future be “led by humans and operated by agents.” Microsoft has already partially implemented this itself, as a high-ranking manager of the corporation stated in July of this year that Microsoft is saving 500 million dollars through AI. This was accompanied by the departure of 15,000 employees.

Higher IQ for AI through more data access

Microsoft is paving this way for other companies through its AI agents. To improve this AI, there is Work IQ, which accumulates knowledge by accessing corporate data, storage, and AI queries. Based on emails, files, meetings, and chats, Copilot can “recognize contexts, gain new insights, and suggest the next meaningful steps,” Microsoft writes. In addition, there is Fabric IQ, a model based on analytical, time-series, and location-based data, as well as Foundry IQ, a “fully managed knowledge system” from multiple data sources for AI agents.

Building on this, Microsoft's “Agent Factory” allows for the development of individual AI agents, which are then available via Microsoft 365 Copilot. These AI agents are managed and monitored with “Agent 365.” The corporation compares this to managing employees, as the AI agents are equipped “with many of the same apps and safeguards as humans,” but tailored to AI needs. This should enable AI agents to be integrated into business processes faster and more easily.

Microsoft: AI agents are the future

Because modern companies cannot avoid AI agents, according to Microsoft. They would automate tasks, collaborate with humans, and accelerate productivity. The corporation refers to the forecast by market researchers at IDC, according to which there will already be 1.3 billion AI agents by 2028. However, this IDC study from May 2025 was sponsored by Microsoft, as the corporation admits in a footnote.

Agent 365 will be available in the Microsoft 365 admin center. Currently, however, it is only available through the Frontier program, where users receive early access to features that are still under development. This allows IT administrators to initially test the creation, management, and application of new AI agents in various scenarios.

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