Microsoft is making strides in the realm of AI-powered productivity with an ambitious venture – it’s introducing an ‘Agent Mode’ for its Office staples, Word and Excel, and launching a new Office Agent in Copilot chat. The idea central to these developments is ‘vibe coding,’ a concept wherein users create apps via simple AI prompts. Microsoft aims to bring this simplicity and intelligence to spreadsheet and document creation, greatly simplifying complex tasks for users, especially those who may not have an in-depth technical knowledge.
Agent Mode is a more advanced version of the existing Copilot functionality in Microsoft Office. Particularly in Excel, it works as an intelligent macro that operates in real time, explaining its actions as it goes, using OpenAI’s GPT-5 model. The Office Agent, nested within Copilot chat and running on Anthropic’s AI models, can go as far as to generate entire PowerPoint presentations or Word documents from just a single seed sentence. Besides helping to build documents, this tool also conducts web-based research and provides live slide previews, addressing areas where previous AI tools were unable to meet expectations.
In Word, Agent Mode makes writing an interactive activity. Copilot goes beyond just converting thoughts into text; it participates in a conversation with the user, guiding them to enhance their content, suggest edits, or collaboratively develop the document. The process of drafting a report or summarizing data trends has been transformed into a more intuitive and fluid process.
Excel’s Agent Mode comes with enhanced capabilities such as data analysis, dynamic sheet building, and keeping everything auditable and verifiable. The hesitation that Microsoft previously showed in incorporating AI into Excel, due to the critical nature of business data, seems to be dissipating, with Agent Mode achieving a 57.2% accuracy rate. Although still behind human accuracy, it has outperformed competitors like Shortcut.ai and Claude Files Opus 4.1.
An important development seen is Microsoft’s increasing interest in drawing upon the capabilities of Anthropic’s models in addition to its core partnership with OpenAI. These models have already found their way into GitHub Copilot, Copilot Studio, and now Office Agent. One fascinating point to note is that Office Agent operates on Amazon Web Services, which could be a reason for Anthropic’s models being used primarily for web-based experiences at present.
Microsoft is making the Agent Mode available for Excel and Word through the Frontier program to its Microsoft 365 Copilot customers as well as Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscribers. The updates are currently only accessible through the web but will support the desktop version soon. Office Agent in Copilot chat is also available as of now for those enlisted in the Frontier program in the U.S.
By integrating robust language models with familiar Office user experiences, Microsoft is redefining how we use productivity tools. These updates are not just about additional features but a complete reimagining of intelligent workspaces. To delve deeper into the developments, read the announcement on The Verge.
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