As we head into 2025, it’s clear that artificial intelligence (AI) agents are set to take center stage, according to a report by Yahoo Finance. Building on the momentum of AI chatbots that gained traction in 2024, these advanced AI bots are designed to take action on behalf of users by automating tasks like extracting data from emails and importing it into various applications. Indeed, the potential for AI technologies is enormous, and major tech companies like Nvidia (NVDA), Google (GOOGL), Microsoft (MSFT), and Salesforce (CRM) are investing heavily in agentic AI.
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One company that’s already seeing promising results from its AI agent initiatives is Microsoft. According to Yahoo Finance, the company’s corporate vice president of business and industry Copilot, Charles Lamanna, has noted significant improvements in IT issue responsiveness and sales outcomes. For instance, employee IT self-help success has increased by 36%, while revenue per seller has risen by 9.4%. This is a clear indication that AI agents are having a tangible impact on business operations.
Separately, Salesforce recently launched its Agentforce 2.0 tool, which increases the platform’s reasoning and allows it to automate more complex tasks.
Expect AI Integration to Increase
As AI agents become more widespread, we can expect to see them integrated into various aspects of our daily lives. In fact, these advanced AI systems will be capable of performing complex tasks, such as booking flights and identifying business opportunities, with ease.
While it may take some time for users to get used to working with AI agents, experts, like TECHnalysis Research president and chief analyst Bob O’Donnell, believe that their benefits will ultimately win out. As O’Donnell notes, we’ll likely see more basic enterprise use cases emerge in the near term, with more advanced AI agents arriving later on.
Is MSFT Stock a Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on MSFT stock based on 27 Buys and two Holds assigned in the last three months. After an 18% rally in its share price over the past 12 months, the average MSFT price target of $501.69 implies 14.25% upside potential.
