Author(s): Pradeep Kumar Muthukamatchi

Originally published on Towards AI.

Meet Learning Agent: Personalized AI Upskilling Inside Microsoft 365 Copilot

Meet Learning Agent in Microsoft 365 Copilot

Recently Microsoft announced the general availability of Learning Agent in Microsoft 365 Copilot, to help everyone build Copilot and AI skills where the work gets done. It provides personalized recommendations based on each person’s context — their role, daily tasks, and work patterns — so learning feels relevant, practical, and easy to act on. Learning Agent helps users learn by doing — right within Microsoft 365 Copilot, and across other familiar experiences including Teams, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

As organizations roll out AI tools across the board, the workforce has not kept pace and employees need support to use these new tools effectively. Turning access into real usage is hindered by disconnected learning sources, outdated course catalogs, and generic learning programs. Employees are asked to adopt AI, but they’re not always given clear, relevant guidance into how it applies to their specific role and daily work.

How can leaders tasked with AI transformation help employees build AI fluency and turn AI investments into meaningful business results? Enter Learning Agent — a personalized, interactive Microsoft 365 Copilot agent embedded in the flow of work, designed to drive meaningful learning experiences and deliver measurable impact.

Scale AI skilling across your workforce

Powered by Work IQ and connected with AI Skills Navigator (in preview later this month), Learning Agent goes beyond content curation. The agent grounds every recommendation in the richest learning signal available in the enterprise — data from Microsoft 365 ecosystem, authoritative SharePoint sites organization admins designate as sources of truth, Microsoft’s out-of-the-box global content from AI Skills Navigator, Microsoft Learn, and Microsoft 365 training, along with the LMS and third-party content already flowing through Viva Learning. Employees and organizations can build AI fluency at scale in four key ways that personalize skilling for each employee, ensure learning is relevant to real work, and connect closely to measurable business impact.

Make AI upskilling and reskilling really stick

Employees need more than generic AI training. Learning Agent enables tailored AI and Copilot skilling through personalized, continuous learning they can use right away.

• AI Tip of the Day — Copilot tips tailored to each employee’s role and tasks, with starter prompts they can try immediately
• AI Skills Navigator integrated experience (in preview later this month) — trusted Microsoft-curated training, credentials, and insights from sources like Microsoft Learn, and YouTube for a variety of learning paths
• Admin-led Copilot onboarding (in preview later this month) — IT admins can trigger guided, hands-on training to specific security groups, with progress tracked through Viva Learning
• Copilot Academy entry point — structured learning paths and Microsoft documentation to build foundational and advanced Copilot skills directly in Microsoft 365 Copilot
• Tenant-grounded microlearning– highly contextual recommendations sourced from admin-prioritized authoritative SharePoint sites and content across the Microsoft 365 ecosystem
• Org-curated learning — while the agent enables AI skilling out of the box for Microsoft 365 Copilot users, organizations with Viva Learning licenses get an enhanced experience that surfaces assigned training, academies, and learning paths from connected learning management systems alongside AI-driven recommendations

For IT leaders rolling out Copilot in their organization, this means turning awareness into real skill growth — without building a separate training program from scratch.

Deliver learning in the moment employees need it

The best learning happens when it’s timely, relevant, and easy to act on. Learning Agent brings personalized guidance directly into the Copilot experience, so people can learn while getting work done.

• Grounded in real work –recommendations are based on each user’s role, not a generic curriculum
• Built into Microsoft 365 Copilot (desktop app and web browser) — no switching tools, no digging through course catalogs, and no extra friction
• Access across Microsoft 365 experiences — streamlined agent experience extended to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Teams

Beyond traditional learning tools, Learning Agent meets people where they already work, making it easier to build habits and sustain adoption to reshape how people work.

“Learning Agent has the potential to reinvent Learning at EY delivering dynamic, deeply personalised experiences in the flow of work.

I’m incredibly excited to see how it continues to evolve and shape a truly future‑ready workforce.”

— Jon Turner, Global Learning & Development Innovation & AI Lead, EY.

Personalize learning without adding complexity

Generic training gets generic results. Learning Agent personalizes learning at enterprise scale, so each employee gets guidance that feels relevant — without requiring manual curation for every role, team, or scenario.

• Context from user skills and work patterns — recommendations are shaped by each person’s skills and tasks, powered by people and user context from Work IQ
• Relevant across the organization — personalization can reflect the needs of individuals, teams, and the broader organization
• Grounded in enterprise knowledge — the agent can surface content from across Microsoft 365 and prioritize admin-configured SharePoint as an authoritative source
• Role-based and AI-driven paths — employees can explore curated learning paths from Copilot Academy, AI Skills Navigator, and their organization’s own training content
• One connected learning ecosystem — bring together out-of-the-box content from AI Skills Navigator, LinkedIn Learning, Microsoft 365 training and content from Viva Learning (including courses, Academies, and curated learning paths), alongside integrations with LMS platforms and third-party providers. This creates a single, unified destination where employees can easily discover and access all their learning content.

For Talent Development leaders, that means every employee can get a more tailored learning experience — without the overhead of managing everything manually.

“Learning Agent in Copilot provides a unique and personalized learning experience for our employees in Grundfos … if someone doesn’t know where to start, or how to proceed with their learning journey, Learning Agent supports you by identifying relevant skills and build personal learning collections through skill assessments. With a few minutes spent with Learning Agent, you find more relevant courses, instead of ending spending hours on a course only to find out it did not provide what you were looking for.”

— Marcus Bendt Krogh Haure, Lead Product Owner, Learn & Grow, Grundfos

Help employees learn by doing

Watching content is only part of the story. Learning Agent helps employees build skills through hands-on, interactive experiences that make learning more practical, engaging, and easier to apply on the job.

• Skill assessments with personalized next steps — users can take an assessment grounded in enterprise content to spot gaps and get a learning plan tailored to what they need or complete a certification
• Microlearning in chat — people can learn in short, conversational sessions without leaving the flow of work
• Interactive coaching — get experiences like LinkedIn Learning AI Role Play and Skillsoft CAISY® Conversation AI Simulator so employees can practice real scenarios in a safe environment (additional licenses required)
• Gamified engagement — features like learning streaks help keep momentum going over time

This learn-by-doing approach helps employees move beyond consuming content and start building skills they can put to work right away.

For Talent Development leaders, reports help admins and leaders understand the impact of skilling initiatives and connect learning activities to business outcomes. Reporting is accessed in two surfaces — in the Viva Insights Agent Dashboard, and in the Learning Agent reporting dashboard. These reports give admins and leaders a holistic view of how employees are engaging with Learning Agent.

The Agent Dashboard in Viva Insights (public preview) provides insight into adoption metrics across all agents. Learn more about the Agent Dashboard. Learning Agent usage reports show a variety of metrics calculated over a 30-day period — including discovery rate, active users, engagement rate, and general activity level. Admins access this report directly in Learning Agent, with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license.

What’s next

General availability is just the start. Here’s a look at what Microsoft is building next to help workforces grow AI skills faster and make skilling even more connected to the flow of work.

• AI Skills Navigator preview features in Learning Agent will roll out to general availability, along with embedding the experience within the agent
• Admin-led Copilot onboarding and training preview features in Learning Agent will roll out to general availability
• Expanded support for content extensibility connectors, so customers can bring their existing content into a centralized agentic experience
• Learning Agent will be embedded in Viva Learning, maintaining your experience wherever you are upskilling

Get started

For customers with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license, Learning Agent is ready to deploy today — see our deployment and configuration guidance here.

Employees with access to Learning Agent can jump right into the starter recommendations or try out these prompts:

• “What skills should I focus on to grow in my current role?”
• “Give me a tip to use Copilot for [your scenario — e.g., summarize an email thread into key decisions and action items]”
• “Help me improve in this task: [your scenario — e.g., maintain and update technical documentation libraries]”
• “Recommend short videos to learn [skill]”
• “Start a role play simulation for handling [scenario — e.g., a customer escalation]”

To read more about additional agents in Microsoft 365 Copilot, visit our adoption page and join the Copilot community to ask questions.

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Published via Towards AI