The new Researcher and Analyst agents from Microsoft promise to analyze vast corporate data

Microsoft has unveiled the Researcher and Analyst agents, the new additions to Microsoft 365 Copilot, designed to enhance productivity by tackling complex research tasks. The first one leverages advanced reasoning models to analyze vast data from enterprise sources (like emails, chats, and documents) and the web. It follows a structured, multi-phase process to deliver high-quality, deeply contextualized research reports.

The second one is powered by OpenAI’s o3-mini reasoning model, and acts as a virtual data scientist, enabling users to transform raw data into actionable insights with remarkable efficiency. The agent employs chain-of-thought reasoning, iteratively refining its analysis to deliver high-quality results that mirror human analytical thinking.

The Researcher agent can synthesize insights from internal and external data, create comprehensive reports, and even integrate third-party data from platforms like Salesforce and ServiceNow.

On the other hand, the Analyst is capable of processing large datasets, executing Python code for complex queries, and generating detailed visualizations. Analysts are particularly adept at handling messy, real-world data, making them invaluable tools for businesses seeking to streamline their data workflows and improve decision-making accuracy.

The innovative agents will be available to Microsoft 365 Copilot license holders starting in April as part of the Frontier early access program. The Redmond-based tech giant published extensive blog posts on each. You can learn more about the Researcher agent and the Analyst agent here.