Microsoft is unveiling a new AI-powered tool in Microsoft 365 Copilot, its AI chatbot app, which is designed for “deep research” capabilities.

The recent launch of deep research agents across various chatbots, including OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, and xAI’s Grok, has been notable. These agents are powered by reasoning AI models that possess the ability to think critically, solve problems, and fact-check themselves, making them well-suited for conducting in-depth research on a particular subject.

Microsoft’s offerings in this space are known as Researcher and Analyst.

Researcher leverages OpenAI’s deep research model, which also powers OpenAI’s own ChatGPT deep research tool, and combines it with advanced orchestration and deep search capabilities. According to Microsoft, Researcher is capable of performing complex analyses, such as developing a go-to-market strategy and creating a quarterly report for a client.

Analyst, on the other hand, is built on OpenAI’s o3-mini reasoning model and is optimized for advanced data analysis. It iteratively progresses through problems, refining its thinking and providing detailed answers to queries. Additionally, Analyst can run the programming language Python to tackle complex data queries and expose its work for inspection, Microsoft noted.

What sets Microsoft’s deep research tools apart from the competition is their ability to access not only the worldwide web but also work data. For instance, Researcher can tap into third-party data connectors to draw on data from AI agents, tools, and apps like Confluence, ServiceNow, and Salesforce.

However, a significant challenge lies in ensuring that tools like Researcher and Analyst do not provide inaccurate or fabricated information. Models like o3-mini and deep research are not perfect and can sometimes mis-cite work, draw incorrect conclusions, or rely on dubious public websites to inform their reasoning.

Microsoft is introducing a new program called Frontier, which will provide Microsoft 365 Copilot customers with access to Researcher and Analyst. Customers enrolled in the Frontier program, who will have early access to experimental Copilot features, will be able to use Researcher and Analyst starting in April.