Welcome to the AI Copilot Podcast, analyzing the latest AI Copilot and agent developments from Microsoft and its partners, delving into customer use cases, and exploring how AI plus the Cloud helps customers reimagine their business.
Highlights
Microsoft Execs on Copilots and Co-Creation (00:50)
Following last week’s Microsoft 365 Copilot Wave 2 event, top Microsoft executives have been sharing their thinking on the positioning of these new features relative to people and professional roles. Jared Spataro, corporate vice president, AI@Work for Microsoft, published a blog that positions AI technology more as a coworker. Originally, AI used a “prompt and response” model of interaction that provided solid results. Now we’re seeing the more valuable output come through a series of prompts that point to relevant files or other data so that you can iteratively improve the output or co-create.
Charles Lamanna, corporate vice president, business and industry Copilot for Microsoft, published a blog on new agents and their benefits. Two specific capabilities Lamanna highlighted with agents: Those built in Copilot Studio can be published directly into Microsoft 365 Copilot, which means they surface directly in a user’s workflow. Second, a new Copilot Studio experience empowers all users, to create agents from within Sharepoint and Microsoft’s Copilot BizChat function.
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Expanding IBM-Microsoft Partnership (07:00)
IBM Consulting has been rapidly growing its Microsoft practice for some time now. Last week, IBM said it is opening three new “Experience Zones” where customers can be hands-on with Microsoft technology, including GenAI Copilots and vertical industry apps to help accelerate business transformation. I spoke with Chris McGuire, who leads the Microsoft global partnership for IBM Consulting. Highlights from that conversation include:
- IBM has 50,000 employees with Microsoft certifications and has committed to having 10,000 certified on Copilot by year-end. It first opened an Experience Zone for immersion into Microsoft technology in India and the latest Zones have opened in Bucharest, Romania, Buffalo, N.Y., and Leicester, U.K. All are strongly AI-focused.
- Customers are passing through the “POC zone” toward a hockey stick of conversions to production status. As this transition occurs, the focus on ramping up vertical industry functionality — targeting industries such as retail and manufacturing — is also on the rise.
- Copilot Runway and Copilot Catalyst are two IBM offerings designed to help clients understand the value Copilots can bring to their business. Clients remain somewhat confused about Copilots, he notes.
Agent-Less Copilot Security (12:54)
In the wake of the Microsoft announcements, several related cybersecurity products. Zenity, which has financial backing from Microsoft’s M12 venture fund, announced an agent-less security app for Microsoft 365 Copilot and AI agents, known as the Zenity AI Trust Layer. The software maintains a continuous inventory of AI Copilots and agents, how they’re used, and any associated risks.
Witness AI added support for Microsoft 365 Copilot and GitHub Copilot for Visual Studio Code applications to its Secure AI Enablement Platform — also without requiring an agent to be installed on employee devices.
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