Your Agent Is Only as Smart as Its Context
Microsoft Developer explains why an AI agent’s output quality depends on the context you can retrieve at runtime, and shows how Foundry IQ-style capabilities connect agents to enterprise data, ground responses, and enable actions across business workflows.
Overview
The video focuses on grounding AI agents with enterprise context so they can answer correctly and take useful actions. It highlights a set of “IQ” capabilities that connect an agent to business data sources, retrieve relevant context at runtime, and use that context to ground each response.
Connect agents to enterprise context
- A capable model can still produce wrong answers if it lacks the right business context.
- The core idea is to connect agents to enterprise data and retrieve the most relevant information at runtime before responding.
Explore Web IQ
- Covers using web-based context as an input to an agent’s reasoning so responses can be grounded in relevant external information.
Ground responses with Foundry IQ
- Demonstrates grounding responses by retrieving and attaching the information that matters for the current user request.
Connect data with Fabric IQ
- Shows connecting agents to organizational data through Microsoft Fabric so the agent can use business data as context.
Query semantic models and ontologies
- Discusses querying semantic models and ontologies to improve how an agent understands and retrieves domain-specific context.
Take actions with Work IQ
- Moves beyond Q&A by enabling the agent to take actions as part of a workflow.
Give the agent its own identity
- Covers assigning an identity to the agent so it can operate within enterprise systems in a controlled way.
Example workflow: automate supply escalations
- Walks through an example where an agent helps automate supply escalation scenarios by using enterprise context and taking actions.
Manage agents with Agent 365
- Mentions managing agents through an “Agent 365” capability, focusing on operational control and oversight.
Add Teams messaging support
- Shows adding Microsoft Teams as a messaging surface so users can interact with the agent in Teams.