Microsoft converts older Power Virtual Agents bots into Copilot chatbots

In short: Microsoft is upgrading older Power Virtual Agents chatbots by copying and converting them into newer Copilot Studio agents that can handle more natural conversations.

What happened

Microsoft is in the middle of moving classic Power Virtual Agents bots, which are older customer service style chatbots, into Copilot Studio’s newer building system.

Inside Copilot Studio, a bot maker can open a classic bot and choose an option called “Copy and convert this bot.” The tool makes a duplicate and creates a new agent that uses the newer setup. If a bot cannot be converted, Copilot Studio pushes the user to create a new agent instead.

The goal is to turn older, rule-based bots into something closer to a GPT-style chatbot, meaning it can respond in a more flexible way when people type questions in their own words. Think of it like replacing a phone menu that only understands “press 1, press 2” with a help desk that can follow a normal conversation.

Why it matters

Many older virtual assistants are rigid. They work fine for simple questions, but they break when a person asks something unexpected or needs help across several steps. The upgraded Copilot-style bots can follow context across multiple messages and sound more natural, but they can still make mistakes, including misunderstandings and incorrect answers. That is why experts often recommend testing the new bot alongside the old one before switching fully.

Source: NYTimes