Agents in 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.

This deployment supports UAB’s broader efforts to responsibly adopt AI tools that improve productivity, collaboration and innovation across the campus.

To get the most out of Agents in Teams, you will need a Microsoft 365 Copilot license, which will allow you to build your own agents and share them with others. But anyone with a campus Microsoft Teams license, including faculty, staff and students, can use agents that are shared with them. Agents in Teams will be available on May 8.

“Agents in Teams give you the power of an AI developer, without the need for deep technical knowledge,” said Brian Rivers, associate vice president and chief technology officer. “Agents are easy to set up, and your information stays securely in the Microsoft environment.”

Agents operate within UAB’s existing Microsoft 365 security and access controls and only work with data and information that users already have permission to access. Agents should be used in accordance with UAB policies and applicable data governance standards.

Agents are only available in the campus Microsoft 365 tenant for uab.edu users. Due to Microsoft tenant separation, agents are not available to health system employees (UAB Hospital, UAB Medicine, UAB Medicine Ambulatory, and clinical affiliates).

To access Teams agents, open your Teams app and click on the Copilot logo in the left-hand tool bar. In the Copilot navigation, you should see a section for “Agents.” Click on “All Agents” to see the full store. Microsoft has populated the store with some ready-made agents, as well as some that are in development and may not be permanent.

Some resources on how to build and use agents include:

• How to create a custom agent in Teams (UAB IT knowledge article)
• Build your first agent
• Agents toolkit
• Connecting a Copilot agent for Teams and Microsoft 365

For help or questions related to accessing or using Agents in Teams, users may contact AskIT or refer to Microsoft and UAB IT knowledge articles. Initial use of agents is expected to be largely self-service, with additional guidance and documentation provided over time.