AI agent's "ChatGPT moment"! Microsoft Corporation (MSFT.US) Copilot welcomes another brand reshaping "AI agent wave" sweeping in.

The US technology giant Microsoft Corporation (MSFT.US) is renaming its core enterprise chatbot Siasun Robot & Automation product in an effort to persuade business leaders to use this software manufacturer's closest competitor to OpenAI's ChatGPT capabilities. Microsoft Corporation announced on Wednesday Eastern Time that its generative AI assistant Microsoft Copilot, focused on improving business efficiency, will be renamed to Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat. This is the second renaming since its debut in 2023 as "Bing Chat Enterprise," with one of the core purposes being to drive more enterprise users to adopt "AI agents" and accelerate the penetration of "AI agents" into global companies, thereby encouraging them to subscribe to the additional monthly $30 "Microsoft 365 Copilot." This AI chatbot Siasun Robot & Automation is free for all users who purchase the main office software suite from Microsoft Corporation (which includes the Office series of Microsoft 365), it can synthesize data content extracted from the internet, analyze documents like PDF or PPT, and provide reply suggestions for customer service calls, etc. However, Jared Spataro, head of Microsoft Corporation's Office AI Tools business, stated that compared to other similar Microsoft Copilot products embedded in personal productivity applications like Word and Excel, this generative AI assistant seems less important, and this enterprise-facing Microsoft Copilot has already given way to other types of Copilots. "Most people don't know they have this feature, and we haven't marketed it extensively," he said in an interview. "We do want to increase its visibility, especially for the enterprise-focused Microsoft Copilot." The generative AI assistant Microsoft Copilot, whether for individual users or enterprise users, can be accessed through a web browser or smartphone application, but there are some limitations. For example, it cannot transcribe Microsoft Teams phone meetings or prioritize unread emails in the inbox. These tasks, as well as other application interaction tasks involving Microsoft Corporation's ubiquitous workplace applications, require a separate subscription to Microsoft Corporation's "Microsoft 365 Copilot" subscription service, with users having to pay an additional $30 per month. AI agent makes a grand debut! Aimed at attracting more enterprise customers to subscribe to "Microsoft 365 Copilot" As the technology giant Microsoft Corporation strives to accelerate the penetration of "AI agents" into global enterprise users, the era of the AI agent, represented by "ChatGPT," seems to be approaching. Responsible for Microsoft Corporation Workplace AI Tool, Spataro stated that Microsoft Corporation is enhancing the capabilities of Copilot based on a question-and-answer chat window, including allowing users to access AI agents, autonomous AI chatbot Siasun Robot & Automation set to perform specific tasks (such as obtaining detailed customer account information or technical specifications). If enterprise users do not subscribe to Microsoft Corporation's "Microsoft 365 Copilot" individually, Microsoft Corporation will charge different types of fees for such access to users. For example, requests to get custom answers from the largest language model at the lowest level of AI agent will cost 2 cents, and accessing data from Microsoft Corporation's major applications, as well as performing AI agent operations through Microsoft Corporation's applications, will cost 30 cents per "message." Therefore, for the AI agent service designed, Microsoft Corporation initially tried to charge enterprise users based on the amount of usage of the intelligent entity, aiming to gradually get enterprise users accustomed to and dependent on AI technology in their work, thereby attracting them to subscribe to the full version of the enterprise Microsoft 365 Copilot subscription service for $30 per month. The pricing appears to be lower than one of Microsoft Corporation's main competitors in the AI agent field, Salesforce, Inc., which is promoting its own AI agent product suite and initially pricing each AI agent conversation at around $2. In addition, core players in the software field such as ServiceNow, Workday, HubSpot, and SAP SE are also initiators of the global "AI agent wave," emphasizing the ability to gain more information and take software-specific operational actions on behalf of users or even independently complete project code writing. According to Spataro, Microsoft Corporation is working onThe new product after the rename is "an entry channel, a cutting-edge AI chat Siasun Robot&Automation mode that can be easily accessed without or with minimal investment".AI agents - the most powerful "revenue engine" for software companies in the future From the current trajectory of AI technology, the development direction of AI application software is focused on "generative AI applications" (such as ChatGPT, Sora, and the popular global AI applications introduced by Anthropic like Claude), and the shift of AI capabilities from chatbot-style question-and-answer to "AI agents that autonomously perform various tedious and complex tasks," such as Agentforce launched by Salesforce, Inc., and the integrated AI agents in Microsoft Corporation's Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat. These two directions not only signify the progress of AI technology but also represent the main theme of future comprehensive AI innovation. Among them, AI agents are highly likely to be the major trend in AI applications before 2030. The emergence of AI agents signifies that AI will evolve from an information support tool to a highly intelligent productivity tool starting in 2024. Enterprises have been pushing for the widespread application of AI agents with great intensity in recent times due to their urgent need to improve efficiency and reduce operating costs. AI agents can automate repetitive tasks, perform big data analysis and summarization based on extremely powerful AI models, provide real-time monitoring insights, and make appropriate decisions in extremely complex situations in a very short time, thereby enhancing business efficiency. The logic for increasing personal learning and work efficiency is similar. AI agents can also efficiently participate in all stages of large-scale projects worldwide, from blueprint planning to implementation, greatly accelerating project progress. Software giant Salesforce, Inc. stated in its financial report that the company strives to shift its artificial intelligence strategy to the cutting-edge AI application tool called "AI agents," which are currently the most popular AI tools designed to complete tasks such as customer support or sales development without human supervision and even participate in large tasks like software development engineering. This veteran software giant officially launched a software service product focused on AI agents called "Agentforce" in October, with an initial pricing of approximately $2 per AI agent conversation. According to the latest forecast report from research firm MarketsandMarkets, the AI agent market size is expected to expand significantly from just $5.1 billion in 2024 to approximately $47.1 billion in 2030, with a high compound annual growth rate of 44.8%. The firm states that by using AI agents, businesses can automate various highly complex processes and reduce human intervention to avoid frequent human errors. The integration of AI agents with enterprise internal automation tools will achieve one-stop AI processing from developing product sales plans to after-sales services, significantly improving business efficiency. The research firm also states that as AI agents' ability to understand and generate human language continues to improve, they can handle extremely complex and nuanced situational awareness interactions with users and possess powerful capabilities comparable to top experts in certain fields, thus being more widely used in industries such as customer service, healthcare, and financial investment consulting. According to the latest forecast from Grand View Research, the global AI agent market size is projected to be only $5.4 billion in 2024, with a compound annual growth rate of 45.1% from 2024 to 2030, reaching an estimated $50.3 billion in 2030. This means that it is very likely to see a tenfold increase if future demand explodes. The firm points out that the exponential increase in one-stop automation demands, continuous advancements in natural language processing technology, and the growing demand for personalized customer experiences are the main factors driving the growth of this market. Additionally, the widespread adoption of cloud-based AI application development platforms by giants like Amazon.com, Inc. and Microsoft Corporation is expected to make deploying AI agents easier and more cost-effective for enterprises.