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AI at work

Microsoft’s retrieval tool gives agents workplace evidence. Existing access limits still apply.

Visual Studio Magazine reported on 23 October on Microsoft’s Work IQ Retrieval tool, following Microsoft’s October preview announcement.

ERP LEADERS news desk · · First reported by visualstudiomagazine.com · Edition no. 49

The tool lets an agent retrieve workplace information using the signed-in user’s permitted access.

Microsoft describes it as returning relevant material with citations for an agent to use. The retrieval result is context for a response; the tool does not itself supply the finished answer to the user.

Microsoft’s documentation describes the preview’s usage and billing controls. Those details belong in an evaluation alongside whether the required information source is supported.

Our reading: the first test should include a document the user is allowed to see and one they are not. Permission to retrieve a document is one check; the team also needs to examine whether the returned citation supports the answer the agent eventually gives.

ERP LEADERS card: Microsoft’s retrieval tool gives agents workplace evidence. Existing access limits still apply.
The card as published on LinkedIn. Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Wikimedia, Public domain · original

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Companies in this story
Microsoft

Our file on Microsoft

  1. 30 OctFiled later

    Microsoft's GitHub said AI agents wrote first drafts of over 40% of code change requests in September. In March it was 17%.

  2. 30 OctFiled later

    Microsoft is borrowing at least $25 billion, Bloomberg reported. Its CFO says cloud demand still exceeds what Microsoft can supply.

  3. 30 OctFiled later

    OpenAI's Codex and Microsoft's VS Code are still unpatched, researchers say. They found security flaws in five AI coding tools.

  4. 29 OctFiled later

    Microsoft says Canada Goose cut its month-end close to five days from eight. It had used old software and Excel.

  5. 29 OctFiled later

    Microsoft said Copilot users grew 50% quarter on quarter. CIOs still owe finance a justification for each paid seat.

All 62 Microsoft stories

For your next steering committee

Questions for your own programme. They are not findings about any company in this story.

  1. 1Ask which AI tools already touch your ERP or finance data, including the ones nobody approved.
  2. 2Ask what each tool is allowed to change, and who reviews what it changed.
  3. 3Ask how the result is measured, and who decides to switch a tool off.

Issue 01 of the ERP LEADERS brief puts a timeline, the three-number review and six questions on one page. Read issue 01

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