💡 Our Technical Review in summary
Summary
- Microsoft is introducing Knowledge Agent (preview), a built-in SharePoint capability designed to optimize organization content for AI at scale.
- It consolidates fragmented AI features into a single interface to improve the quality and trustworthiness of responses in Microsoft 365 Copilot and custom agents.
- The Public Preview is currently rolling out and is expected to complete by late February 2026.
- The feature is available to tenants that opt-in and is accessible to users with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license.
Impact
- User Interface Changes: A new floating button will appear in the lower-right corner of SharePoint. Additionally, the SharePoint ribbon icon for enabled sites will change from the Copilot logo to a hexagon icon.
- Role-Based Capabilities:
- Content Managers: Can use AI to structure, tag, and enrich content with smart metadata.
- Site Owners: Gain tools to identify stale pages, broken links, and content gaps.
- Content Creators: Can generate documents and pages using natural language prompts.
- Viewers: Can interact with content via grounded natural language chat.
- Licensing and Billing Changes:
- Ready-made SharePoint site agents are now exclusive to Microsoft 365 Copilot licensed users.
- These ready-made agents are no longer available via the Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) billing model.
- PAYG customers can still create and use custom-built, no-code agents via the SharePoint agents meter, but cannot access pre-configured site agents without a Copilot license.
Action Required
- Opt-in to Preview: This feature is not enabled by default. Admins must manually opt-in the tenant to the Knowledge Agent preview. Refer to the “Get started with Knowledge Agent (preview)” documentation for specific PowerShell/CLI commands.
- Granular Control: After opting in at the tenant level, admins can choose to opt out specific sites if needed. More granular opt-in controls for specific site types are expected in mid-to-late November 2025.
- Review Licensing: Evaluate your current use of SharePoint agents. If your organization relies on “ready-made” agents via PAYG, ensure users are assigned Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses to maintain access.
- Internal Training: Update internal documentation to reflect the UI change (the hexagon icon) and educate site owners on the new site health and metadata enrichment tools.
Microsoft Official Update
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Category: stayInformed
Severity: normal
Updated October 22, 2025: We have updated the content below. Thank you for your patience.
[Introduction]
We’re introducing Knowledge Agent, a built-in SharePoint capability that helps organizations prepare content for AI at scale. It unifies fragmented AI features into a single, context-aware interface that adapts to user roles and surfaces intelligent actions directly in the flow of work. This enhancement supports high-quality, trustworthy responses from Microsoft 365 Copilot and custom agents.
[When this will happen:]
- Public Preview (Worldwide): Begins mid-September 2025; completes by late February 2026.
[How this affects your organization:]
Who is affected:
- Users with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license on tenants opted into Knowledge Agent preview.
- Admins managing SharePoint content and agents.
What will happen:
- A floating button will appear in the lower-right corner of SharePoint surfaces, launching a context-aware menu with intelligent actions.
- Role-based capabilities include:
- Content managers can structure, tag, and enrich content using smart metadata and AI recommendations.
- Site owners can identify stale pages, broken links, and content gaps.
- Content creators can generate pages and documents using natural language prompts.
- Collaborators and viewers can surface grounded insights via natural language chat.
Impact to SharePoint agents users:
- Ready-made SharePoint site agents are now exclusively available to customers with Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses. These agents are no longer accessible through the Microsoft 365 Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) billing model under the SharePoint agents meter.
- PAYG customers can still create custom-built, no-code SharePoint agents using the same SharePoint agents meter, but they will not have access to the ready-made site agents unless they are Microsoft 365 Copilot licensed.
- The SharePoint ribbon icon has changed from the Copilot logo to a hexagon to indicate Knowledge Agent-enabled sites.
- Agent creation remains available via:
- Site homepage
- Agent chat pane
- AI actions menu in the command bar of a document library
- Content menu of selected file(s) in a document library
[What you can do to prepare:]
- Knowledge Agent Public Preview begins September 18, 2025 on a tenant opt-in basis to users with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license.
- Learn more about opting into the preview: Get started with Knowledge Agent (preview). If you receive a command not recognized error running the commands , please review this article for additional troubleshooting.
- For tenants who have opted in, it is possible to opt out for specific sites.The ability to opt-in for certain types is coming in mid-to-late November.
- No setup is required for individual features.
- Learn more via the Knowledge Agent blog.
[Compliance considerations:]
| Consideration | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Introduces or modifies AI/ML capabilities | Knowledge Agent introduces new AI-driven features that interact with customer content to provide intelligent actions and insights. |
| Provides new user interaction with generative AI | Users can interact with SharePoint content using natural language prompts and chat. |
| Modifies access to existing features | Changes availability of ready-made SharePoint agents based on licensing. |
| Includes admin control | Admins can opt in/out of preview and manage site-level availability. |
