Microsoft's AI agents can now create Word, Excel, PowerPoint projects
What's the story
Microsoft has announced the launch of dedicated artificial intelligence (AI) agents for its popular productivity tools: Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. The new feature was unveiled at Ignite 2025 and is part of a paid service called Copilot Chat. The move is aimed at bridging the gap between ideation and production by allowing users to generate content through simple prompts.
Advanced capabilities
New AI agents: More than just content refinement
The new AI agents go beyond just refining content. They can create material from scratch after a brief text conversation with the user. "Simply type a prompt, and these agents will ask targeted follow-up questions to tailor the output to a user's goals in creating documents, spreadsheets and presentations," Microsoft said in its announcement.
Dual access
AI agents blend personalization with contextual awareness
The new AI agents have access to both user and web data, blending personalization with general contextual awareness. They can handle a range of tasks like research, spreadsheet formatting, and presentation layout design. However, these agents are currently available only through Microsoft's Frontier early access program for Microsoft 365 Copilot licensed customers.
Additional enhancements
Microsoft announces other AI upgrades for Copilot
Along with the new AI agents, Microsoft also announced other notable upgrades for Copilot at Ignite 2025. These include Agent Mode, which gives Copilot more autonomy to handle complex coding and design tasks. The feature was previously available only for Word and Excel but is now also available for PowerPoint.
Outlook enhancements
Copilot for Outlook gets agentic upgrades
Microsoft's Copilot for Outlook is also getting some agentic upgrades. An experimental new "interactive voice" feature automatically summarizes unread emails and offers follow-up suggestions in an AI voice. The company has also made Copilot Voice available for all commercial users. Additionally, users with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license can schedule work meetings through a simple chat prompt.