Microsoft's new AI Sales Agent is disturbingly autonomous

Microsoft has announced the introduction of two innovative AI agents, Sales Agent, and Sales Chat, aimed at revolutionizing sales processes within organizations. These new agents are designed to enable sales teams to focus on higher-value activities and drive sales success.

According to Microsoft, the Sales Agent operates autonomously, performing tasks such as researching leads, setting up meetings, and reaching out to customers. For low-impact leads, the Sales Agent can even complete a sale independently. By leveraging data from CRM systems, the web, and Microsoft 365, including emails and meetings, the Sales Agent personalizes every response to potential leads.

The Sales Chat agent assists sales representatives in preparing for new account customer meetings by providing information based on CRM data, presentations, discussions, emails, and the web. Sales reps can use natural language prompts to request actionable insights, such as identifying deals at risk of falling through or creating plans to close deals.

Both AI agents will be available in public preview in May 2025 for Dynamics 365 and Salesforce. They can be accessed through Microsoft 365 Copilot and Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat, allowing sales teams to nurture and close deals without needing to open their CRM systems.

In addition to the new AI agents, Microsoft has announced the AI Accelerator for Sales program. This program aims to help customers transform their sales organizations using Microsoft 365 Copilot and agents, as well as migrate from legacy CRM system vendors. The program includes prebuilt agents for common sales processes, custom agents with Microsoft Copilot Studio, and model fine-tuning by Microsoft AI experts.

The AI Accelerator for Sales program will be available for select customers starting April 1, 2025. Although the news might seem disturbing, if you’re a salesperson reading, know that an AI tool will not replace you. At least not entirely. However, it will help you with many tasks, finding leads and managing potential clients.

Copilot for Sales is already out there. The new agents are only a continuation of automating sales processes. If you’re using AI sales tools, let us know what you think in the comments below.