01 What happened
Microsoft Learn documentation updated on October 15 describes Agent accounts as a Copilot Studio Frontier preview. An agent can receive a separate Microsoft 365 account with an Entra identity, mailbox, and directory entry. The features described apply to agents and workflows powered by the GitHub Copilot harness.
02 Key details
- An account gives the agent its own Microsoft Entra identity, mailbox, and directory entry. It can send and receive email, appear in Teams, and participate in supported Office-comment and @mention scenarios. In the EEA, Teams requires a separate tenant license.
- Requirements include an Early release cycle environment; admin activation of the Copilot Studio template in the Microsoft 365 admin center and Agent accounts in the Power Platform admin center; an E5 license with the Agent 365 add-on or E7 for the maker; tenant enrollment in Frontier with the Agent 365 terms accepted; and an available Frontier for AI Teammates license for each agent.
- The agent does not respond to people outside its tenant. Email conversations can include up to 250 people; an access-verification error does not by itself mean that this limit was exceeded. Office-comment @mentions are limited, and targeted edits or coauthoring of existing documents are not supported. The agent cannot read protected documents labeled Confidential or Internal Only.
- Shared memory is used across everyone who works with the agent and cannot be disabled in this preview. Files or chats shared with the agent can be summarized in responses to other users, including people who cannot access the original material.
- Add the account before the agent’s first publication; publishing activates it and assigns a Frontier for AI Teammates license. The email prefix is based on the maker’s alias, and the reporting relationship cannot be changed after publication. Copilot Credits usage charges are separate from the account license.
03 Why it matters
A separate managed identity lets an agent participate in supported organizational workflows. Before enabling the feature, administrators should confirm Frontier eligibility, licensing, and permissions and assess the shared-memory risk: information from files and chats shared with the agent may appear in responses to other users.
04 Who it matters to
System administrators and AI agent developers.
Original source