Copilot chat and agents gets interchangeable in conversations. Here are the key differences between the two.

Copilot Chat

• Purpose: Provides a conversational interface for users to interact with Copilot in real time.
• Scope:
  • Handles ad-hoc queries like summarizing documents, drafting emails, generating ideas, or answering questions.
  • Works across multiple apps (e.g., Word, Excel, Teams) and integrates with enterprise data.
• Behavior:
  • Reactive and session-based—it responds to what you ask in the moment.
  • Doesn’t persist beyond the current conversation unless you explicitly save outputs.
• Example Use Case:
  • “Summarize the last meeting notes and draft an email to the team.”

Agents

• Purpose: Designed for automation and orchestration of tasks over time.
• Scope:
  • Acts as a persistent, proactive assistant that can monitor triggers, execute workflows, and manage processes.
  • Can integrate with business systems (CRM, ERP, etc.) and run multi-step operations.
• Behavior:
  • Always-on and context-aware—can take actions without waiting for a prompt.
  • Often customized for specific roles or business functions.
• Example Use Case:
  • Automatically updating a project dashboard when new data arrives or sending reminders for overdue tasks.

So main takeaways:

• Chat is interactive, on-demand answers to prompts
• Agents are automated task executions