• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, March 10, 2025

Microsoft's agentic vision for 2026 is filled with personalized AI agents traversing the web to negotiate options with agents from a variety of companies based on the consumer's needs. Every brand will have agents that act as experts in specific products and services.

“We imagine Copilot as a UI for AI and the negotiator between multiple agents that can bring them into the conversation,” a Microsoft representative said, adding: “In this feature, imagine you’re looking to book a vacation for three weeks in Japan.”

In this instance, Copilot would reach out to travel sites and negotiate with multiple agents on the behalf of the consumer. The consumer's personalized agent would create three options by interacting with other brands' agents based on the consumer's requirements and needs.

Copilot would negotiate with the agents to refine the travel itinerary, for example. This task would require a huge amount of first-party data, including knowledge of the consumer preferences for brands. The agents would learn from each interaction. 

This vision of what will come is an extension of a pilot running today, the company said.

The Microsoft brand agent pilot being tested today lives on the brands' websites.

 The AI assistants were trained to understand everything about the products and services, as well as the tone and the voice of the brand. The agents can guide users through a shopping experience with natural language, and help to up-sell products because they completely understand the brand and its products.

The agents also can provide the latest reviews of the products, as well as understand some of the gaps in the product line.

Microsoft is not entirely certain how these agents will work, as developers are still trying to determine the future. One marketer during the meeting asked whether possibilities being considered would enable consumers to link their personal profiles to Copilot and specific brand website, so when agents negotiate with brands, it would know the consumer's brand preferences.

The consumer would make the decision on how much information to share.

Microsoft last week also spoke about organic and advertising in Copilot. The company has offered ads in Copilot, but in the past has limited the number it serves as it refines and tests units. That has changed with a new type of sponsored ad explained at its Accelerate conference last week.

In an online presentation to a handful of advertisers, the company explained something called “Ad Voice.” This feature in Microsoft Copilot presents ads in a conversational style that summarize the organic response from Copilot and then serves the advertiser's message.

Microsoft said organic content will never influence advertising. The content is intended to feel less intrusive and more natural and relevant to the ongoing conversation. The ads offer options for those searching for specific experiences.

Dynamic filters have been added to refine a specific topic. For advertisers, this offers a better way to qualify a lead for consumers interested in specific products.

A user will prompt Copilot, which analyzes the entire conversation. It infers useful information and offers it to the consumer who is searching.

Age, genre, price range and other signals become attributes, which become filters.

While the organic content may offer answers to queries similar to what search would do, but the paid ads provide information on where to get the products required.

For example, someone provides a prompt “I am looking for a board game to play with my six-year old nephew during the weekend.” Filters that Copilot would create includes the number of players, the age range, play duration time, difficulty, game genre, price range, mechanics, publisher, and occasion type.

The sponsored ad side of Copilot would come back and provide a list of games, where to purchase them, and the prices. The explanation might read: “These games balance entertainment and engagement, making them perfect for memorable weekend gaming sessions with your nephew.”

In a similar example, if someone uses the prompt “I want to do fun science experiments at home with my 7-year-old this weekend, what do you recommend?” 

Copilot would return options for science projects and then at the bottom of the list provide a block of sponsored ads related to the topics.