Understand how Copilot agents work - Microsoft Copilot Tutorial

- If you need to plan a work trip, you might talk to a travel agent. Actors who need help navigating performance contracts will work with a talent agent. People who have experience with specific types of work can help you in your professional life. Agents in Copilot are similar to this. They have specific roles and parameters already defined, so you can go straight to asking your questions and get the best answers. So in Copilot, I might ask it to give me ideas to help my small local business expand nationally within the United States. And of course, it gives me some tips about developing my online presence and some marketing concepts I can research. But AI chat tools like Copilot are capable of much more complex requests. There are several courses on LinkedIn learning that teach how to write detailed, robust prompts to get very specific, insightful information. You may want to take a look at Garrett Chow's course, "Microsoft 365 Copilot the Art of Prompt Writing", or one of the many other courses about prompt engineering. Part of prompt engineering often involves setting specific parameters and even telling Copilot the role or identity you want it to have when researching and answering your questions. Let's try a slightly more robust version of that prompt. I'll start the prompt by writing, you are an international business lawyer specializing in renewable energy and clean energy startups. As my business grows, I need to be aware of potential regulatory requirements and tax obligations. And now that I've defined that role and parameters, I'll continue with exactly the same text that I had in my previous prompt. So I'll type, give me ideas to help my small local business expand nationally within the United States. And this gives me a much more detailed, much more effective response. So you could learn some prompt engineering techniques, or even if you just take a little extra time to write longer, more thoughtful prompts that will usually get you better results. But you might find yourself writing out those roles and parameters over and over every time you have a new question for Copilot. What if you could establish those roles and parameters and save them? What if you could save several of these roles and choose which one you want to engage with whenever you want? Well, you can, and this is where you would use an AI agent. You might use a Copilot agent that specializes in helping you write more effectively, or you might use an agent that can engage with third party online services, or you might use an agent that takes on the role of a marketing director to help you grow and expand your business, or an agent that is knowledgeable about your company's employee manual and HR policies. These are just a few scenarios, and in fact, they are the scenarios that we will explore as we go through this workshop. But you'll also see that this is just the beginning and there's so much more potential in using AI assistance with specialized knowledge and parameters.