A reasoning agent built by Microsoft that comes alongside Researcher for people with a Microsoft Copilot licence, and writes and runs code to work through raw data such as multiple spreadsheets. Agent settings don't govern it, because it belongs to the core Copilot Chat experience.
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In the Ultra Transcenders books
Each book explains Analyst in context, with comparison tables and the common traps.
Terms in this definition
- Agent
A specialised form of Microsoft Copilot set up for one particular job, pairing instructions with knowledge and skills. You can create one in Copilot Studio, SharePoint or Agent Builder, and administrators control them from the Microsoft 365 admin center.
- Researcher
A Microsoft-built agent in Microsoft Copilot that works through in-depth, multi-step research, drawing on organisational files and the web and producing a cited report. Copilot licences include it, and it respects the web search policy.
- Microsoft Copilot
Licensed users get this workplace AI assistant, which grounds large language models in organisational data from Microsoft Graph and the Microsoft 365 apps. It respects existing permissions, so people see only what they could already open; without the licence, people use the web-grounded Microsoft Copilot Chat instead.
- Licence
What entitles one particular user to the services a subscription offers. Each product licence is made up of several service plans (one per app or service), and before giving it to someone an admin has to record that user's usage location.
- Agents (classic) API
First-generation Foundry Agent Service API, based on threads, messages and runs. It is deprecated, replaced by conversations and responses, and retires on 31 March 2027.
- Govern
The part of the Cloud Adoption Framework concerned with keeping cloud use under control by setting guardrails made of policies, procedures and tools. It runs continuously across the estate alongside Secure and Manage.
Related terms
- AIR
Automated investigation and response in Microsoft Defender: alerts are examined without an analyst, each item of evidence gets a verdict, and fixes are carried out or suggested in the Action center. For Office 365 protection it requires Defender for Office 365 Plan 2.
- Pseudonymisation
Hiding who someone is by showing a random label, for example ANON2340, in place of their name and other personal details. Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management and Communication Compliance do this by default for reviewers in their analyst and investigator roles.