AI Agents: Are We Ready For Fully Automated Workflows? Microsoft Innovation podcast

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AI Agents: Are We Ready for Fully Automated Workflows?

2d ago 26:09

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Kurt Rolland shares practical strategies and philosophical insights at the intersection of technology, sustainability, and AI adoption. This episode explores how business and tech professionals can optimise energy use, leverage Copilot and agentic AI, and make ethical decisions in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.
🎙️ Full Show Notes
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/773

🔑 What you’ll learn

Reduce operational costs with sustainable energy solutions
Evaluate the impact of AI agents on business productivity
Build resilience in tech projects through local adaptation
Balance automation with privacy and ethical considerations
Apply practical frameworks for optimising personal and team workflows

👉 Highlights

“We’re actually able to generate about 100% of our electricity.”
“We dropped our energy about 60% annually just going to geothermal.”
“Copilot used to be one thing. Now there’s many copilots.”
“It still requires a heck of a lot of effort to get an agent tuned enough to my needs.”
“We’re data radiators now as human beings.”
“For every convenience, you’re giving up some level of freedom.”
“Is that what we want? Can we, but should we?”
“Human bodies thrive on some level of resistance or friction.”
“Surveillance is… it seems like we don’t talk about it enough.”
“We’ve got a facade of Brave New World, but the background behind it is 1984.”

🧰 Mentioned

Copilot: https://copilot.microsoft.com/
SharePoint: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/sharepoint/collaboration
Office 365: https://www.office.com/
M365 Copilot: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365-copilot
Copilot Studio: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365-copilot/microsoft-copilot-studio/
Personal Agent Builder: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365-copilot/extensibility/agent-builder-build-agents
Microsoft MVP YouTube Series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzf0yupPbVkqdRJDPVE4PtTlm6quDhiu7

✅Keywords
ai, copilot, agents, automation, sustainability, energy independence, privacy, surveillance, workflow, geothermal, office 365, ethical technology

Microsoft 365 Copilot Adoption is a Microsoft Press book for leaders and consultants. It shows how to identify high-value use cases, set guardrails, enable champions, and measure impact, so Copilot sticks. Practical frameworks, checklists, and metrics you can use this month. Get the book: https://bit.ly/CopilotAdoption

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Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith

Chapters

1. Welcome & Purpose (00:00:00)

2. Sustainable Living & Energy Independence (00:00:15)

3. The Evolution of Copilot & Agentic AI (00:05:07)

4. Philosophies of Power and Non-Power (00:08:09)

5. Local Adaptation & Landrace Innovation (00:11:14)

6. AI Agents: Automation vs. Human Optimisation (00:15:07)

7. Privacy, Surveillance & The Illusion of Control (00:20:58)

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