Microsoft adds Work IQ retrieval tool to ground AI agents in enterprise data

The tool searches email, documents, meetings, Teams messages and people, returning structured source records and model‑ready Markdown with inline citations. Metadata can include source URLs, resource types and sensitivity labels. It supports two search strategies: a default copilot strategy that searches Microsoft 365 content and supported external sources, and a grounding strategy that limits retrieval to indexed Microsoft 365 information. Developers can further restrict searches by source type using capability parameters, and retrieval remains subject to each user’s existing access permissions.

Microsoft positions the tool as an evolution of the Copilot Retrieval API, separating retrieval from agent‑delegation operations. The announcement was made in a developer blog post and reported by David Ramel of Converge 360.