Agents for Productivity (A4P)
Our mission
AI agents are becoming central to how people get work done, but today’s systems still fall short on reliability, context retention, and real world workflow execution.
The Agents for Productivity (A4P) initiative advances the core research needed to enable reliable, capable, and scalable productivity agents across the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. We focus on solving the hardest remaining challenges in agent automation, from procedural memory and orchestration to computer use and enterprise grounded reasoning, in order to unlock measurable productivity impact for millions of users.
Our research
Orchestration and reasoning
We develop next generation orchestration and planning systems that allow agents to reliably execute long horizon workflows across Microsoft 365 tools and services. Our work spans tool selection intelligence, reasoning focused post training, and realistic training environments that reflect how people actually use Microsoft 365.
Agentic memory and context management
We are building procedural memory that enables agents to recall know how, maintain continuity across tasks, and adapt based on user feedback. This includes research into memory curation, long context retrieval, and safeguards that preserve contextual integrity and privacy in enterprise settings.
Computer using and hybrid agents
We advance hybrid execution frameworks that combine API based actions with robust graphical interface automation. This allows agents to operate across legacy applications, dynamic user interfaces, and multi application workflows, expanding where automation is possible while keeping reliability and control front and center.
