Research results in 30 minutes instead of 3 days: Copilot Researcher makes it happen!
Copilot Researcher is designed to perform autonomous research based on online information. Instead of answering individual questions, it creates a coherent, well-structured, and source-backed report on a given topic — drawing from a wide range of information sources. The real value lies in the significant time savings during information gathering and synthesis, allowing you to focus on analyzing and interpreting the results.
Added value: Productivity 
Scenario: Research 
Reading time: 5 minutes 
Difficulty: Beginner
Evaluation of the function
How does the function perform?
Everyday Scenarios
| Function | Description | How-to sentence |
| Information Research & Summarization | Copilot researches complex topics from multiple sources and summarizes them in an easy-to-understand way – ideal for quick onboarding or informed decision-making. | Ask a question like: “Please summarize the key findings from recent studies on AI ethics.” – Copilot then provides a structured summary. |
| Analysis of Files & Reports | Copilot analyzes content from Excel, Word, or PDF files, identifies trends, patterns, or anomalies, and derives actionable insights. | Upload a file and say: “Please analyze the latest quarterly figures and give me the key trends.” – Copilot automatically identifies the relevant insights. |
| Competitor and Market Analysis | Copilot researches information on competitors, market trends, or technologies and presents it in a comparative format. | Ask a question like: “Please compare the AI services of SAP, IBM, and Microsoft – with a focus on the German market.” – Copilot generates a structured market overview. |
How it works
The Researcher coordinates several specialized sub-agents that automatically handle subtasks such as web searches or data analysis. The workflow follows a step-by-step process: first, the request is understood and broken down into meaningful sub-tasks. The Researcher then gathers relevant information from both internal and external sources and compiles it into a clearly structured report.
Access Research Agent
Under Agents in the left navigation pane, select Researcher.
Enter your prompt (e.g., “I need information on the current state of quantum computing in the financial services sector”).
Test
We asked the Copilot Researcher to compile information on the current state of quantum computing in the financial services sector. The data should cover market leaders, current applications, and regulatory challenges.
We then evaluated the results ourselves and additionally had another AI (Manus.AI) define evaluation criteria and assess Copilot Researcher’s output based on both content and form.
Results
The agent first asks a clarifying question to ensure it has correctly understood the request. It takes about 30 minutes to generate a 14-page report, drawing on six different sources. The Researcher also includes graphical elements in the report. Key insights (e.g., major players) are highlighted in bold — very useful for skimming and getting an initial overview. With Pages, users have the option to manually edit and refine the report afterward.
Evaluation
Overall impression: Excellent. The report meets the prompt’s requirements to a very high degree. It is high-quality, comprehensive, well-structured, up to date, and written in clear, understandable language. It provides an excellent overview of the current state of quantum computing in the financial sector, and the AI executed the assigned tasks precisely.
Areas for improvement:
- Exact page references would be preferable instead of citing only the entire document.
- Source references are not traced “deeper” (citation chain). From a scientific standpoint, it would be more accurate to verify the original source.
Results: M365 Copilot vs. Researcher
With a processing time of around 30 seconds, the standard Copilot is significantly faster — however, its response is much shorter and draws on only a few sources, using roughly half as many as the Researcher. Instead of a full report, it generates only bullet points.
The main difference lies in the level of detail and depth: the Copilot Researcher delivers a much more comprehensive, precise, and well-founded response that meets the requirements of a detailed report. The regular Copilot, on the other hand, provides a solid overview but remains more superficial, making it better suited for quick summaries. This clearly illustrates the different design philosophies behind the two AI systems.
Conclusion
Copilot Researcher impresses with its ability to perform complex research tasks automatically and with high quality. Particularly noteworthy are its well-structured output, solid source foundation, and the significant time savings compared to traditional workflows or the standard Copilot. For demanding tasks such as market analyses and professional reports, the Researcher delivers a clear and measurable advantage.