Agents in Microsoft Teams
UAB IT is preparing to deploy Agents in Microsoft Teams, which are intelligent, conversational AI assistants that work inside Teams to help automate tasks, summarize conversations, manage workflows and act on your data, securely within UAB's Microsoft 365 ecosystem. Agents can be used by anyone at UAB with a campus Microsoft Teams license (faculty, staff, and students). Custom Agents can be built by anyone with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license and shared with others similar to document sharing.
Features
Summarize
Ask an agent to summarize long chat threads, meeting transcripts, Teams channel conversations, and more.
Automate
Agents can help automate your channels and tasks. Set them up to generate status reports in channels, track tasks in Microsoft Planner, and create work plans.
Research
Helps you quickly research complex topics by pulling together information, brainstorming ideas, and drafting in-depth content directly in Copilot Chat.
Facilitate
Set your Agent up to take notes during meetings, keep discussions on track in calls, and provide next steps. Your agent can also help connect you to coworkers that have a skill set you need for an upcoming project.
Analyze
Turns complex data into clear insights and visualizations so you can understand trends and make decisions faster.
Translate
Provides real-time language interpretation in Teams meetings, allowing participants to speak and listen in their preferred language.
FAQ
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Who can use Teams Agents?
Anyone licensed for Teams will now have access to the Agent Store in Teams. People with access can leverage the Microsoft-provided and University-published agents.
Subscribers to Microsoft Copilot 365 can build their own Teams agents and share them with others via a sharing link. These can also be found in the Agent Store.
Teams Agents run inside the Teams client on the desktop, web, or mobile client.
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How do I access Teams Agents?
Open your Teams client and click on the Copilot logo in the left-hand tool bar. In the Copilot navigation, you should now see a section for "Agents." Click on "All Agents" to see the full store.
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What can Teams Agents help me do?
Teams Agents help you stay on top of meetings and conversations by summarizing discussions, tracking tasks, answering questions in real time, and keeping work moving without manual follow-up.
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Are Teams Agents secure?
Yes. Teams Agents operate within UAB's existing Microsoft 365 security boundaries, using the same identity, access controls, data protections, and compliance policies that apply to all Microsoft applications today (Teams, email, OneDrive, SharePoint).
They respect who can see what, based on your role and permissions. They follow our data protection and compliance rules, including sensitivity labels and policies. They are centrally governed and monitored by IT, just like other Microsoft 365 services.
Agents do not bypass security; they can only act within the access and permissions they are explicitly given, which is why proper setup and sharing matter, just like with document sharing.
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Can agents act autonomously?
Agents can take actions within the permissions they're granted. Microsoft has introduced agent patterns that operate across chats, channels, and meetings, with admin controls and human-in-the-loop governance to review actions. Availability of specific agent capabilities depends on tenant enablement and licensing.
Autonomy is configurable and intentional, not automatic. Agents only act independently when designed and approved to do so.
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Where can I learn more?
Any use of AI tools at UAB should follow the University's AI principles.