Empowering Agents in Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat

Understanding Microsoft Copilot and Its Agents

Microsoft is changing the way businesses operate by integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) into various business processes through agents. A new feature, Copilot Chat, allows users to interact seamlessly with these AI agents. This feature will soon enable agents created in the Microsoft Copilot Studio agent builder to be available right within Copilot Chat. The goal here is to empower every employee, regardless of their role, by equipping them with a virtual assistant, known as a Copilot.

Getting Started with Agent Consumption

When using agents, organizations are billed based on the number of messages exchanged. Essentially, every interaction you have with an agent counts as a message. You can acquire messages through the Copilot Studio meter on Microsoft Azure.

There are two payment options:

• Pay-as-you-go at $0.01 per message.
• Pre-paid message packs at $200 for 25,000 messages per month.

To manage billing and assign message capacity effectively, users need to utilize the Microsoft Power Platform admin center. Keep in mind, the consumption of messages largely depends on how complex an agent is, how often it’s used, and which features are being utilized. The cost of using various features has been categorized into five different groups.

Classic and Generative Answers

One of the primary ways agents communicate is through answers. The responses can either be classic or generative, each having different billing implications. Here’s a breakdown of each:

1. Classic Answers: These are pre-defined responses crafted by agent builders. They are static and are charged one message per response.
2. Generative Answers: These dynamically generated responses adapt based on the context of a conversation, costing two messages each.

It’s noteworthy that users with Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses can access both classic and generative answers at no additional cost as part of their subscription.

Tenant Graph Grounding for Messages

Tenant Graph grounding enhances agent performance by providing relevant information from Microsoft Graph, which includes files stored in SharePoint and other data sources. This service costs 30 messages per knowledge retrieval but is optional and can be toggled on or off.

Understanding Autonomous Actions

Autonomous agents are designed to understand tasks and automate complex processes, which has sparked considerable interest since their public preview began. Starting February 1, 2025, this feature will enter a paid preview phase. Each autonomous action will cost 25 messages.

Calculating Agent Costs

Cost calculations depend on the interactions and features used. Here are a few examples to illustrate how costs can accumulate:

• An agent assisting customers might use 500 classic and 2,000 generative answers, totaling 4,500 messages, equating to $45 for that day.
• An HR-focused agent could utilize 200 generative answers and 200 tenant Graph grounding retrievals, leading to a total of 6,400 messages or $64 for the day.
• An autonomous agent handling sales orders could incur 100 generative answers, 100 tenant Graph messages, and 800 autonomous actions, totaling 23,200 messages or $232 in costs.

Managing Agent Costs

It’s important for organizations to manage agent costs efficiently. The Microsoft Power Platform admin center provides tools to assign agents to environments and monitor usage, helping ensure that billing remains within budget. Additionally, a quick walkthrough of agent management features is available to assist administrators.