Microsoft's Copilot Studio, Operant AI's Gatekeeper, and Salesforce's Agentforce Unveiled

This means that if a person can use an app, the AI agent can too. It’s a significant leap in making AI agents more intelligent and reliable, particularly when handling real-world tasks like processing invoices or conducting market research. The standout aspect of this update is the adaptability of AI agents to changing interfaces, making automation even more dependable.

Previously, Microsoft introduced a feature called Actions, allowing users to delegate tasks to Copilot while focusing on other priorities. However, the new computer use feature takes this a step further, offering a more sophisticated tool for business-level automation.

Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing the way businesses operate, with enterprise AI agents stepping into the limelight as pivotal tools for reimagining business automation. But this isn't just about ticking off tasks on a to-do list. These agents are evolving into autonomous problem-solvers, adept at navigating complex workflows, supporting decision-making, and working alongside human teams.

Industry leaders are marking this as a pivotal moment, as companies transition from basic automation to AI-powered orchestration frameworks. Rob Bearden, the chief executive officer of Sema4.ai Incorporated, highlights that the focus is now on comprehensive process execution, real-time data adaptation, and tangible improvements in speed, accuracy, and enterprise value.

It's about creating a horizontal platform that empowers both developers and business leaders to define outcomes and leverage AI to execute them flawlessly. Bearden elaborated on their approach, emphasizing the use of the Sema4 AI or Psy AI engine to craft agents that can connect to data, build reasoning paths, and operate in the ideal execution environment, all while maintaining the highest standards.

This strategic approach is supported by a set of safe services, ensuring reliability and trust in AI operations. At the AI Agent Builder Summit, Bearden and Paul Ferguson, vice president of global financial services at Emerson Electric Company, shared insights with SiliconANGLE’s theCUBE. They discussed how enterprise AI agents are reshaping business automation by enabling intelligent, end-to-end process execution.

Ferguson explained that Emerson's early adoption of these technologies, in collaboration with Sema4, showcases the transformative potential of AI agents. Ferguson noted that having AI agents in their toolkit allowed Emerson to explore end-to-end automation and transformation, bringing significant value in terms of service cost and knowledge work. A particularly striking example is their customer payment remittance process.

Previously, only about 20 to 30 percent of this task could be automated, leaving the rest to human employees. However, with AI agents, they achieved a remarkable 70 to 80 percent automation rate. This leap in automation not only enhanced accuracy and turnaround times but also freed up employees to engage in more strategic initiatives. It demonstrated the potential of scaling agent capabilities across various workflows.

Ferguson emphasized the importance of starting with a clear process narrative, which the Sema4 platform facilitates through its horizontal, runbook-driven architecture. This approach allows for a seamless blend of process steps and actions across multiple applications.

As businesses contemplate their AI agent strategies, the focus is increasingly on platforms that ensure secure deployment, seamless orchestration, and explainable decision paths. The objective extends beyond mere automation to intelligent, autonomous execution with built-in auditability and trust. Bearden's vision for the future is clear: to empower enterprises to build, run, and manage safe AI agents that reliably and predictably execute knowledge work.

The AI security landscape just got a significant upgrade with Operant AI's announcement of AI Gatekeeper™, a new product designed to supercharge runtime protection for AI agents and applications. This isn't just about adding another layer of security; it's about redefining how we protect AI systems in real time across various environments.

Imagine the complexity of securing AI applications that are sprawling across cloud platforms like Amazon's Elastic Kubernetes Service, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud, and even moving into non-traditional spaces like Databricks, Snowflake, and Salesforce. The challenge isn't just about keeping up with rapid deployments; it's about ensuring that these AI systems are secure from rogue agents and emerging threats.

Operant AI's CEO, Vrajesh Bhavsar, put it simply: "The AI that we are now securing is a completely new beast compared to even two years ago." With AI Gatekeeper™, Operant AI is extending its 3D Defense capabilities beyond Kubernetes, offering runtime protection across public, private, and hybrid clouds.

Why does this matter? Well, as enterprises adopt more sophisticated AI workflows, the security risks grow exponentially. AI Gatekeeper™ addresses these risks by providing a live comprehensive catalog of all AI workloads and tools, ensuring that any potential threats are identified and blocked in real time. This includes threats like sensitive data leakage, API key exposures, and data poisoning, which are flagged through cohesive AI Security Graphs.

Raj Yavatkar, CTO of Juniper Networks, highlighted the importance of this development, noting that Operant's solution enables AI-native teams to innovate securely at a new pace. The ability to map and flag high-risk data flows and ensure least privilege execution is crucial for protecting business-critical transformations. Martin Choluj, Chief Information Security Officer at Clickhouse, emphasized that securing AI agents is a critical priority.

Without appropriate controls, handing off autonomy at scale to AI systems could lead to catastrophic failures. AI Gatekeeper™ provides the necessary safeguards, including trust scores and agentic access controls, to manage these risks effectively. Operant's launch of AI Gatekeeper™ comes at a pivotal time, as the company was recently recognized in Gartner's Market Guide for AI Trust, Risk, and Security Management.

This recognition underscores the importance of their work in providing comprehensive security solutions for the evolving AI landscape. With AI Gatekeeper now available, enterprises have a robust tool to secure their AI-driven innovations.

C.H. Robinson is redefining the logistics game by expanding its fleet of artificial intelligence agents across the entire shipment life cycle. This is a significant move for a company that's been at the forefront of integrating AI into the shipping process. Since launching their generative AI agents in 2023, they've been on a mission to automate and streamline operations at an unprecedented scale.

These AI agents aren’t just performing basic tasks; they’re revolutionizing logistics by handling complex processes like price quoting, processing orders, acquiring trucking capacity, setting delivery appointments, and supply chain tracking. Imagine the efficiency of having these tasks automated, freeing up human workers to focus on more strategic, customer-centric roles. Mark Albrecht, the vice president of artificial intelligence at C.H.

Robinson, broke it down: the company started by building lower-level agents to handle basic tasks. Now, they've developed reasoning agents that take on a supervisory role, orchestrating these tasks to create a seamless workflow for employees. It’s like having a digital conductor for the symphony of daily logistics operations. The evolution of these AI agents has been fascinating. Initially, they were used to extract information from emails about available trucks.

Now, they’ve expanded their capabilities to even handle tasks for small and medium-sized businesses. Megan Orth, senior director of connectivity, explained that these agents can now convert unstructured data from people’s heads and emails into structured formats, making the next generation of agents even smarter. What’s particularly impressive is the reasoning capabilities of these newer agents.

Unlike their predecessors, which were more direction-oriented, these agents can check their own work and even flag relevant data points that weren't explicitly requested. It’s like having a diligent assistant who not only completes tasks but also anticipates needs. Albrecht pointed out that this new framework allows C.H. Robinson to tackle problems faster than ever.

With agents understanding freight classes and having access to databases, they can conduct searches and quickly verify their findings. The result is a more efficient and accurate logistics operation. The impact has been monumental. C.H. Robinson’s AI agents have already performed over 3 million tasks, delivering over 1 million price quotes and processing another million orders.

Arun Rajan, the chief strategy and innovation officer, noted that these generative AI agents are becoming more capable daily, thanks to the smarter models and their application across a vast customer base of 83,000. Every additional shipping step automated by these agents has translated into leaps in efficiency for global supply chains, allowing C.H. Robinson’s team to focus on high-value work for their customers.

It’s a perfect example of how AI can transform traditional industries by enhancing human capabilities rather than replacing them.

Let's talk about Salesforce and their big bet on artificial intelligence agents to solve the data challenges that business leaders face. This is a hot topic because Salesforce just released their State of Data and Analytics 2025 report, which paints a pretty complicated picture of how business leaders interact with data.

Confidence in data's relevance to business objectives is down by eighteen percent since 2023, and confidence in data accuracy has dropped by a whopping twenty-seven percent over the past two years. Pretty significant, right? The report highlights a growing pressure on leaders to back up their decisions with data—seventy-six percent feel this pressure, with fifty-seven percent feeling like they're in a competition with colleagues to prove their worth through data.

And it’s not just about competition; seventy-six percent of leaders, including eighty-three percent of marketing leaders, believe that the rise of AI increases their need to be data-driven. It’s like data is becoming this indispensable tool, but not everyone feels equipped to wield it effectively. But here's the kicker: fewer than half of the business leaders say they can actually use data to drive actions and decisions effectively! That’s where the blame partly falls on the tools they have.

A staggering ninety percent of leaders say that having direct access to needed data in their everyday apps would improve their performance. Eighty-five percent think they’d be better at their jobs if they could just ask their data questions using natural language, like chatting with a colleague. Salesforce is stepping up to this challenge with their new Agentforce platform, which is all about bringing AI agents into play to improve how leaders interact with their data.

They’re integrating these agents into Tableau through a product called Tableau Next. This isn’t just a minor tweak; it automates tasks like cleaning, transforming, and visualizing data, while also spotting hidden correlations and trends. It’s like having a data detective working alongside you. With Tableau Next, users can expect natural language summaries and recommendations embedded directly into their workflows.

It’s designed to make data more accessible and actionable, bridging that gap between business leaders and their data tools. This could be a game-changer for leaders who feel overwhelmed by data, helping them to make more informed decisions without getting bogged down by complexity. Tableau Next includes several modules like Data Pro, which offers smart suggestions for data cleaning, and Concierge, which provides immediate answers to data questions.

There’s also Inspector for proactive data monitoring, and Tableau Semantics for a unified understanding of business data. Plus, there’s a Marketplace where users can share and reuse data analysis components. It’s a comprehensive suite aimed at making data work for you, not the other way around. In a world where data is increasingly vital, Salesforce’s move to integrate AI agents into data analytics tools could redefine how businesses operate.

It’s about making data-driven decisions easier and more intuitive, helping leaders to not just cope with data, but to thrive with it.

That’s it for today’s The AI Agent Daily Brief. From Microsoft's groundbreaking 'computer use' feature to Salesforce’s AI-driven solutions for data struggles, it’s clear that AI is reshaping how we interact with technology. Thanks for tuning in—subscribe to stay updated. This is Michelle, signing off. Until next time.