Microsoft Ignite 2025 focus this year saw Microsoft fully committed to Agentic AI as the next platform layer. Across all of the briefings, keynotes, technical sessions, and partner announcements, Microsoft repeatedly emphasised that AI is no longer an add-on – and that is becoming the “operating system” for modern work.
Alongside this was the announcement of Work IQ at Ignite 2025 was probably one of the biggest impact announcements – which was announced during the day 1 keynote – hosted by Judson Althoff (CEO of Commercial Business at Microsoft) and LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky.
What is Work IQ?
Work IQ was positioned as a multi-level intelligence layer that delivers company-specific, job-specific, and user-specific data to inform Microsoft 365 Copilot and agents. This was not about smarter tools, models or even a new first party agent, but instead was about Microsoft playing true to their initial vision of Copilot whereby (unlike other AI tools), about a new layer of contextual intelligence that adapts to how your organisation actually work.
This layer actually includes Work IQ, Fabric IQ, and Foundry IQ – each designed to accelerate AI innovation and support organisations in becoming Frontier Firms. But Work IQ is the cornerstone of what this all about.
Microsoft positioned Work IQ as being built on three pillars:
- Inference – ability to connect dots, predict next actions, and recommend the right agent.
- Data – the rich knowledge inside emails, files, meetings, and chats and Entra ID
- Memory – your specific preferences, habits, and workflows.
This framework enables Copilot to access data, retain memory, and understand how tasks and tools interact. Inference helps predict the most suitable action or agent for each job.
Work IQ is deeply integrated into Microsoft 365 apps like Word and Excel, enabling Copilot to continuously learn through what Microsoft calls an AI-powered feedback loop. This loop far surpasses traditional connectors by retaining context and evolving with your business.
Instead of reactive assistants waiting for prompts before acting, Work IQ interprets relationships, intent, and context. It connects documents, meetings, and workflows into a living map of organisational knowledge, powered by the Microsoft Graph- a competitive advantage no rival can match. Whilst other AI’s such as ChatGPT can “plug-in” to Microsoft 365 via APIs, this is nothing compared to the power of the Microsoft Graph (which is what WorkIQ is). Work IQ (the Microsoft Graph) is about value creation inside the governance boundary. Work IQ respects permissions, compliance, and sensitivity labels, making it a trusted foundation for enterprise AI.
Agents Powered by Work IQ
Work IQ is also the engine of the agent era. Agents can only act independently when they understand environment, history, dependencies, and intent. Without context, an agent is just a reactive assistant with a fancier name. With Work IQ, Microsoft enables true agentic behaviour – agents that can coordinate, reason, and act across the enterprise.
This aligns with Microsoft’s broader vision of “Frontier Firms” – organisations that are human-led and agent-operated. Microsoft say that, already, more than 90% of the Fortune 500 use Microsoft 365 Copilot, and Work IQ is set to deepen that reliance by embedding intelligence into everyday workflows. This got huge cheers at Ignite!
With Work IQ, Microsoft are raising the standard of the AI workplace – positioning itself as the core intelligence layer of the modern organisation and building the foundation of the next decade of digital work.
What about other 3rd Party AIs?
Many of Microsoft’s Competitors are able to “plug in” to either apps though plug ins. ChatGPT, Gemini, Salesforce, ServiceNow, Atlassian etc can all build smart vertical intelligence inside their own stack or products, but in terms of the wider enterprise context, they operate in silos. Even with APIs, they do not have the awareness, context and breadth of reach that Microsoft has with the connected Microsoft ecosystem and the Graph. They lack a unified fabric, and without it, they cannot deliver the seamless agentic experience Work IQ enables.
Microsoft’s isn’t trying to win the AI assistant market as such; they are building the architecture for the agentic workplace. Think of it as the difference between building a smart car versus building the entire road system it drives on.
Final Thoughts
Work IQ as the missing piece that makes Copilot more than a productivity tool. It’s the connective tissue that transforms AI from assistant to organisational intelligence.
The real question is how quickly enterprises will adapt to this new standard, and how competitors will respond when Microsoft have just raised the bar so high.