On May 1, 2025, the Microsoft 365 Copilot team hosted a live Ask Microsoft Anything (AMA) focused on the Frontier Program—an early access initiative designed to give customers a head start with powerful new Copilot capabilities like the Researcher and Analyst agents.
Whether you missed the event or want a recap, this post outlines key questions from the community, direct answers from product leaders, and resources to help your organization get started.
TL;DR: Key Things to Know
- Researcher and Analyst agents are in preview and rolling out globally by the end of May 2025
- Licensing details will be shared at a later date, but agents will be available to all Microsoft 365 Copilot-licensed users via Frontier
- Admins can manage access to agents through Microsoft 365 Admin Center using security groups
What Is the Frontier Program?
The Frontier Program gives Microsoft 365 Copilot customers early access to experimental agents like Researcher and Analyst, with the ability to:
- Test Copilot experiences before general availability
- Provide direct feedback to Microsoft
- Influence the roadmap for future AI capabilities in Microsoft 365
“We are not doing [an invite or nomination process] with this program… These features are available to everyone that has a Microsoft 365 Copilot license.”
— Maryleen Emeric, Sr. Director, Microsoft 365 Copilot Product Marketing
To get started, visit aka.ms/FrontierProgram.
Community Q&A: What You Asked and What Was Said
Licensing and Pricing
“Can you confirm that licensed Copilot users can use these agents without additional costs from PAYG programs?” — John Gardner
“Just to clarify on licensing – when Researcher and Analyst go GA, they won’t be included in the M365 Copilot license? Maryleen said we don’t know pricing yet which is confusing.” — jacksproul_tds
“We don’t know yet. These are still in preview. Our business planning team is fast and furiously working on the business model. We will be announcing licensing closer to general availability.”
— Maryleen Emeric
Global Rollout and Cloud Availability
“When will these new agents start rolling out in Europe?” — 933857
“Is Frontier currently only available for USA? Will it get released in Canada?” — Theunknowncb
“Is there a timeline for availability in GCC?” — matthewmella
“Will Frontier be available for Education?” — WMLouis
“We are not even doing a geo rollout. We are actually just going to try to hit worldwide by the end of May.”
— Maryleen Emeric
“We’re starting with commercial and then assessing how we can get this into other cloud tenants.”
— Maryleen Emeric
Admin Access and Governance
“How do IT admins manage access to the agents?” — Multiple users
“We want to restrict ‘create new agent’ capabilities and this single control is causing significant security and compliance concerns.” — HIGGeorgeChiu
“You can actually just tie it to a security group, and those will be the only users that will be able to access the experiences.”
— Maryleen Emeric
Agent Capabilities and Functionality
Agent-to-Agent Chaining
“Can Researcher and Analyst agents be chained together to retain conversation context?” — Noir_cl980
“The Researcher agent can call on the expertise of another agent, like the sales chat agent… You can pass context through that.”
— Kevin Sherman, Director, Microsoft 365 Copilot Product Marketing
Data Scoping and Access Control
“Can admins scope or limit the Researcher agent to specific data sources?” — MGreth
“We’re in the advanced stages of building this. Users will be able to pick specific sources like OneDrive or SharePoint. That will be built into the product—it’s not there yet today.”
— Kevin Sherman
“Does Researcher only have access to data I (as an individual) already have access to?” — MarkRussell
“They only have access to what you as a user have access to in your tenant.”
— Maryleen Emeric
Product Team Highlights
“We started hearing this progressively louder demand from our customers to say, we want these things early—and we’re willing to accept earlier product as a result.”
— Kevin Sherman
“I’ve never seen a technology that puts humans at the center more than this Copilot and agents revolution. Your ability to verify, tell stories, use judgment—that’s what scales with AI.”
— Maryleen Emeric
“It’s not just about giving you tools—it’s about helping you and your users ask richer questions and explore what’s possible.”
— Kevin Sherman
“Copilot and agents are becoming the UI for AI.”
— Maryleen Emeric
Key Takeaways
- Researcher and Analyst are preview features rolling out globally by end of May 2025
- Admins must enable agent access via Microsoft 365 Admin Center controls
- Pricing for agents is still being finalized and will be announced before GA
- Agents operate under existing user permissions and compliance boundaries
- More agent types and deeper reasoning workflows are coming to Frontier soon
Learn More and Get Started
Explore these resources to go deeper:
- Overview: Frontier Reasoning Agents
- Analyst Agent Deep Dive
- Researcher Agent Deep Dive
- Adoption Resources for Copilot
- Frontier Program Page
- Researcher and Analyst agents announcement blog
- Join the Copilot Discussion Space
- Subscribe to the What’s New in Copilot Blog
Thank You
Thanks to everyone who participated in the AMA. Your insights and questions are helping shape the next generation of Microsoft 365 Copilot. We look forward to seeing what you build with Frontier—and continuing the conversation in the Copilot Discussion Space.
