Microsoft Innovation Podcast

AI Agents: Are We Ready for Fully Automated Workflows?


Listen Later

Get featured on the show by leaving us a Voice Mail: https://bit.ly/MIPVM

Kurt Rolland shares practical strategies and philosophical insights at the intersection of technology, sustainability, and AI adoption. This episode explores how business and tech professionals can optimise energy use, leverage Copilot and agentic AI, and make ethical decisions in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.

🎙️ Full Show Notes
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/773 

🔑 What you’ll learn   

  • Reduce operational costs with sustainable energy solutions 
  • Evaluate the impact of AI agents on business productivity 
  • Build resilience in tech projects through local adaptation 
  • Balance automation with privacy and ethical considerations 
  • Apply practical frameworks for optimising personal and team workflows 

 👉 Highlights   

  • “We’re actually able to generate about 100% of our electricity.” 
  • “We dropped our energy about 60% annually just going to geothermal.” 
  • “Copilot used to be one thing. Now there’s many copilots.” 
  • “It still requires a heck of a lot of effort to get an agent tuned enough to my needs.” 
  • “We’re data radiators now as human beings.” 
  • “For every convenience, you’re giving up some level of freedom.” 
  • “Is that what we want? Can we, but should we?” 
  • “Human bodies thrive on some level of resistance or friction.” 
  • “Surveillance is… it seems like we don’t talk about it enough.” 
  • “We’ve got a facade of Brave New World, but the background behind it is 1984.” 

 🧰 Mentioned   

  • Copilot: https://copilot.microsoft.com/ 
  • SharePoint: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/sharepoint/collaboration 
  • Office 365: https://www.office.com/ 
  • M365 Copilot: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365-copilot 
  • Copilot Studio: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365-copilot/microsoft-copilot-studio/ 
  • Personal Agent Builder: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365-copilot/extensibility/agent-builder-build-agents 
  • Microsoft MVP YouTube Series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzf0yupPbVkqdRJDPVE4PtTlm6quDhiu7 

✅Keywords   
ai, copilot, agents, automation, sustainability, energy independence, privacy, surveillance, workflow, geothermal, office 365, ethical technology 

Microsoft 365 Copilot Adoption is a Microsoft Press book for leaders and consultants. It shows how to identify high-value use cases, set guardrails, enable champions, and measure impact, so Copilot sticks. Practical frameworks, checklists, and metrics you can use this month. Get the book: https://bit.ly/CopilotAdoption

Support the show

If you want to get in touch with me, you can message me here on Linkedin.

Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Microsoft Innovation PodcastBy Mark Smith [nz365guy]

  • 5
  • 5
  • 5
  • 5
  • 5

5

20 ratings


More shows like Microsoft Innovation Podcast

View all
Coaching for Leaders by Dave Stachowiak

Coaching for Leaders

1,462 Listeners

Decoder with Nilay Patel by The Verge

Decoder with Nilay Patel

3,150 Listeners

HBR IdeaCast by Harvard Business Review

HBR IdeaCast

162 Listeners

How to Be Awesome at Your Job by How to be Awesome at Your Job

How to Be Awesome at Your Job

1,032 Listeners

NVIDIA AI Podcast by NVIDIA

NVIDIA AI Podcast

334 Listeners

DataFramed by DataCamp

DataFramed

269 Listeners

Hard Fork by The New York Times

Hard Fork

5,512 Listeners

Coaching Real Leaders by Harvard Business Review / Muriel Wilkins

Coaching Real Leaders

672 Listeners

Forward Deployed by Microsoft

Forward Deployed

5 Listeners

The AI Daily Brief: Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis by Nathaniel Whittemore

The AI Daily Brief: Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

616 Listeners

Everyday AI Podcast – An AI and ChatGPT Podcast by Everyday AI

Everyday AI Podcast – An AI and ChatGPT Podcast

109 Listeners

AI Hustle: Make Money from AI and ChatGPT, Midjourney, NVIDIA, Anthropic, OpenAI by Jaeden Schafer and Jamie McCauley

AI Hustle: Make Money from AI and ChatGPT, Midjourney, NVIDIA, Anthropic, OpenAI

172 Listeners

Power Platform Boost Podcast by Ulrikke Akerbæk and Nick Doelman

Power Platform Boost Podcast

1 Listeners

Leveraging AI by Isar Meitis

Leveraging AI

62 Listeners

Using AI at Work: AI in the Workplace & Generative AI for Business Leaders by Chris Daigle

Using AI at Work: AI in the Workplace & Generative AI for Business Leaders

24 Listeners