Copilot Studio
In short
Copilot Studio is Microsoft's tool for building your own AI agents and automated workflows without programming everything from scratch. An agent follows instructions, draws on the knowledge sources you connect and carries out tasks, for instance in Teams or on a website. Copilot Studio is not the same as Microsoft Copilot, formerly Microsoft 365 Copilot: one is the workshop for your own agents, the other is the assistant inside Word and Outlook.
The most common misunderstanding: Copilot Studio is the Copilot in Word and Outlook
The names are close, the jobs are not. Microsoft Copilot, formerly Microsoft 365 Copilot, is the assistant that works alongside you in Word, Outlook and Teams. Copilot Studio is where you build your own agents that take on a specific task for your business.
Microsoft describes it as a graphical, low-code studio for AI-powered agents and workflows. The agents are published where people already work: in Microsoft Teams, on websites, in mobile apps and in Microsoft Copilot itself. So the two are connected: an agent from Copilot Studio can appear inside the assistant, but it is not the assistant.
What you build with it
Three building blocks lead the way: agents that hold conversations and complete tasks; workflows built in a drag-and-drop designer, which can include human review steps; and agent flows, which feel like Power Automate but run natively in Copilot Studio.
Low-code does not mean no planning. An agent is only as good as the instructions and knowledge sources it is given. Connect it to an untidy shared drive and you get answers from an untidy shared drive. More on the principle under low code.
For a Swiss SME
As soon as an agent processes personal data, such as enquiries from customers, the Data Protection Act applies directly. The FDPIC also states that people communicating with a language model have a right to know they are dealing with a machine. What that means for contracts, data flows and notices is covered in AI and data protection in Switzerland.
A second point concerns cost: Microsoft itself notes that the runtime chosen for an agent affects how it is billed. What an agent costs therefore depends on how it is built, not only on the licence.
How we handle it
We start with one clearly defined task and a person who checks the result. Whether Copilot Studio is enough for that task or a custom-built agent fits better, we assess by the task, the data path and the environment already in place.
More in AI agents, AI consulting and process automation.
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