Key Highlights–
- Microsoft rolls out new Agent Mode and Office Agent.
- These features enable “agentic productivity,” allowing Copilot to execute complex, multi-step tasks like full data analyses or presentation creation.
- Both features will be rolling out immediately in the Frontier program for Microsoft 365 Copilot licensed customers and Personal/Family subscribers, starting with web apps.
Microsoft announced on Monday the introduction of Agent Mode and Office Agent for Microsoft 365 Copilot, positioning its generative AI assistant to handle complex, multi-step tasks within Office applications. The company is framing the update as a shift toward “agentic productivity,” or “vibe working,” enabling users to initiate projects with a single prompt and allow the AI to orchestrate the entire creation process.
The new features are rolling out immediately to select users in the Frontier program, initially supporting the web versions of key Microsoft 365 apps.
Agent Mode Takes Control of Excel and Word
Agent Mode integrates directly into Office applications, starting with Excel and Word. This functionality moves beyond simple content generation to enable the AI to execute advanced operations, evaluate results, fix errors, and iterate based on user guidance.
For Excel, Agent Mode utilizes OpenAI’s latest reasoning models to execute complex data modeling tasks, effectively allowing the AI to “speak Excel” natively. Microsoft released an accuracy benchmark of 57.2% on the SpreadsheetBench task set for Agent Mode in Excel, claiming it democratizes expert-level spreadsheet capabilities for a wider user base.
In Word, Agent Mode facilitates “vibe writing,” transforming document creation into a conversational experience where Copilot drafts content, suggests refinements, and applies polished formatting and native Word styles.
Office Agent Brings Anthropic AI to PowerPoint Creation
The second major component, Office Agent, is designed for a chat-first workflow, specializing in creating ready-to-use PowerPoint presentations and detailed Word documents directly from the Copilot chat interface.
Significantly, Office Agent is powered by Anthropic models, broadening the range of underlying large language models available within the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. This Agent handles deep web research and quality checks, allowing users to collaborate with it to refine output or hand off the finished product to PowerPoint for final edits. The rollout for Office Agent begins with the Frontier program for Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscribers in the United States.
You may also like to read – Anthropic Refuses Federal Agencies to Use Claude for Spying on Citizens
What Happened To Microsoft-OpenAI Partnership ?
Microsoft’s strategy behind deploying Anthropic’s models alongside OpenAI’s is to make use of AI prowess from both AI leaders for Office 365 Copilot. Given how Microsoft-OpenAI partnership has seen a recent revision in their agreement, both the tech giants now exercise greater freedom in terms of integrating competing AI technologies.
We recently reported how Microsoft was looking to not restrict itself to OpenAI’s models, and would use the best available AI for any given task. Recently the tech giant also released new AI features for its browser Edge.
