AI in SharePoint Public Preview: Agentic Building

Introduction: why this matters

SharePoint remains the content backbone for many Microsoft 365 tenants—and it’s increasingly the grounding layer for Copilot and agent experiences. Microsoft’s latest updates push SharePoint toward an “intent-to-solution” workflow (build with natural language, not just configuration screens), while also emphasizing governance controls that administrators will need for secure AI adoption.

What’s new

1) AI in SharePoint (public preview): from intent to working solutions

AI in SharePoint is positioned as a multi-turn, collaborative experience that can plan, create, and evolve SharePoint assets based on natural-language prompts.

Key capabilities (rolling out now through the next few weeks):

• Pages (available now in preview): Draft/refine content directly on the canvas—adjust tone, generate summaries, reorganize sections, and create more polished page layouts.
• Libraries (available now in preview): “Intelligent libraries” that use AI-powered skills to extract/apply metadata, refine columns, and organize content without manual tagging. That metadata can also power native SharePoint workflows in-context.
• Lists (rolling out in preview): Create and manage lists conversationally—populate from files, evolve schemas, edit items, format views, create forms, and ask questions grounded in list data.
• Sites (end of March preview): Describe the solution and SharePoint proposes a structured plan spanning site structure, pages, lists, libraries, and starter content, then iterates with you before creation.
• Structured documents (March preview): Detect fields from a Word document template; users fill a form and SharePoint generates consistent structured documents aligned to standards.

Microsoft also noted that the advanced preview relies on Anthropic Claude in initial rollout, which may require tenant opt-in for Anthropic as a sub-processor depending on location.

2) Knowledge Agent is now “AI in SharePoint”

What was previously the Knowledge Agent public preview is now integrated natively as AI in SharePoint, included within the Microsoft 365 Copilot license, and surfaced via a floating action button with context-aware suggestions.

3) New SharePoint experience + enhanced content governance

Microsoft is refreshing SharePoint’s UX and navigation, organized around three common scenarios: discovering what’s new, publishing content, and building solutions. In parallel, Microsoft is rolling out governance and billing updates across Microsoft 365 Copilot, SharePoint Admin Center, and Microsoft 365 Backup via tenant-level public preview (with more capabilities coming in the following weeks).

Impact for IT admins and users

• Faster solution delivery: Power users and site owners can produce usable sites/pages/lists/libraries with fewer steps—and less specialized SharePoint knowledge.
• Higher governance stakes: AI-generated content structure and metadata will amplify both the benefits (search, automation, Copilot grounding) and the risks (oversharing, inconsistent taxonomy, retention gaps) if governance isn’t ready.
• Compliance/vendor review required: The Anthropic sub-processor requirement may affect regulated tenants and could slow adoption if procurement/privacy reviews aren’t completed.

Action items / next steps

1. Decide on preview participation: If you’re not already opted into the AI in SharePoint public preview, evaluate enabling it in a pilot tenant/group.
2. Review sub-processor requirements: Confirm whether you must opt in to Anthropic processing and align with legal/compliance.
3. Prepare information architecture guardrails: Define metadata standards, library patterns, and site provisioning rules—anticipate upcoming “custom skills” as enforceable guardrails.
4. Monitor admin center updates: Track the new governance/billing experiences in SharePoint Admin Center and Copilot-related settings as they roll out.