Nikoo Samadi
Ever wish your apps could think ahead, offer suggestions, or answer questions like a human? With AI and Copilot in Microsoft Power Platform, that’s no longer a dream, it’s built in. These tools bring artificial intelligence to your workflows without needing a team of developers or data scientists. Whether you’re building an app to track inventory or a chatbot to help customers, AI Builder and Copilot Studio give you the power to create smarter solutions with less effort.
This blog breaks down what each tool does, how they’re different, and how they work together to help businesses move faster and make better decisions. If you’re deciding between AI Builder vs Copilot Studio or looking for guidance on Power Platform AI integration, you’re in the right place.
What Is AI Builder in Power Platform?
AI Builder is a no-code tool in Power Platform that helps you add artificial intelligence to your apps and workflows. Instead of writing complex code or hiring a data science team, you can use prebuilt models or train your own to do things like recognize images, read documents, or predict future outcomes.
For example, you can build an app that scans receipts and pulls out key data like vendor names, dates, and amounts. Or you can automate lead scoring in a sales pipeline based on past trends. It’s all done visually, using a drag-and-drop interface inside Power Apps or Power Automate.
AI Builder is ideal for everyday business users who want to solve problems faster. It brings intelligence to your processes without slowing you down or adding technical overhead. Whether you’re managing financial data or handling logistics, AI Builder Power Platform capabilities can transform your workflow.
What Is Copilot Studio?
Copilot Studio is Microsoft’s tool for creating AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants, without needing to code. It’s part of Power Platform and was previously known as Power Virtual Agents. With Copilot Studio, you can build bots that answer questions, guide users through processes, or even pull data from other systems like SharePoint, Excel, or Dynamics 365.
What makes it powerful is its use of generative AI. That means your bot doesn’t just follow a script, it can understand natural language, handle follow-up questions, and provide more human-like responses. You can also connect it to your business data, so it gives accurate, real-time answers. These Copilot Studio generative AI features significantly elevate the user experience.
Whether you want to build an internal helpdesk bot or a customer support assistant, Copilot Studio helps you launch quickly and customize the experience. In fact, it’s never been easier to build chatbot with AI Builder and Copilot Studio for both internal and customer-facing applications.
AI Builder vs. Copilot Studio: What’s the Difference?
Although both AI Builder and Copilot Studio bring AI to Microsoft Power Platform, they serve different goals. One works behind the scenes to power your apps with intelligence, and the other creates front-end experiences where users can interact with that intelligence directly.
As of July 2025 (Release Wave 1), Microsoft has enhanced both tools. Also started bringing them closer together, allowing for more advanced, integrated scenarios. Here’s how they compare:
AI Builder (Backend Intelligence)
AI Builder focuses on analyzing data, automating decisions, and enhancing workflows without writing code. In 2025, it includes:
- Document Processing Agents: New intelligent agents that extract, validate, and manage data from both structured (like forms) and unstructured (like emails) documents. These agents will integrate with Copilot Studio by September 2025. This showcases how AI Builder Power Platform functionality is expanding into conversational workflows.
- Prompt Builder: A visual interface that helps non-technical users create and test generative AI prompts. These prompts can now take various inputs (documents, images) and generate different types of outputs such as text, summaries, answers, and more. The Prompt builder Power Platform 2025 release adds even more flexibility to this process.
- AI Governance Tools: New admin features allow centralized control over AI Builder usage, permissions, and credit tracking all from the Power Platform admin center.
Copilot Studio (Conversational Agents)
Copilot Studio is designed for building bots and agents that talk to users, guide them through tasks, and perform actions. Its 2025 updates include:
- Copilot Tuning: A tool that lets you customize how your agents behave using your own company data and preferred tone, without any coding. This makes Copilot Studio generative AI customization accessible to business users.
- Multi-Agent Orchestration (in preview): Lets you connect multiple agents that can each handle part of a task. For example, one agent fetches CRM data, another writes a proposal, and another schedules a meeting.
- Full Agent Platform: Copilot Studio now supports custom agent creation, more channels (like WhatsApp and SharePoint), and built-in analytics to evaluate performance. It has evolved beyond just a chatbot builder into a complete AI agent platform.
Real-World Integration Example
Document Processing for Conversational Agents
AI Builder’s document processing agents can extract, validate, and manage data from structured (invoices) and unstructured (emails, resumes) documents.
Copilot Studio agents can then use that structured data within a chat e.g., a support bot refers to invoice totals or contract terms on demand.Shared Prompts Across Tools
The Prompt Builder in AI Builder now supports multi-modal content and diverse data sources.
These prompts can be reused inside Copilot Studio agents to guarantee consistent behavior across backend automations and chat interactions.Orchestrated Agent Workflows
Copilot Studio now supports multi-agent orchestration (preview), where separate agents can delegate parts of a task, like one agent fetching CRM data, another drafting a proposal in Word, and another scheduling a meeting in Outlook.
At every step, AI Builder’s intelligence (data extraction, predictions) powers these agents in the background.
Here are verified real-world examples showing how AI Builder and Copilot Studio power smarter applications today:
Holland America Line – Virtual Cruise Concierge
Using Copilot Studio, Holland America built “Anna,” a chatbot that guides customers through cruise bookings, itinerary questions, and customer support, all via natural language. It integrates with CRM, booking systems, and web content. By using hybrid orchestration, AI Builder prompts interpret user intent before routing to appropriate topics. The agent can handle multi-intent requests like “Find a 6–8 day Alaska cruise from Seattle” and pull itinerary details from pages.
Eneco (Belgian Energy Provider)
Needing to address rising customer support loads, Eneco transitioned to Copilot Studio from other chat solutions. Their AI bot now serves over 1.5 million customers, with improved intent recognition and more consistent, high-quality responses.
Dow (Supply Chain Invoice Automation)
Dow deployed two Copilot Studio agents: one for real-time invoice review, and another autonomous agent to process PDF invoices in logistics workflows. These agents integrate with Microsoft 365 and AI Builder for document extraction.
Tech and Finance Firms (ContextWindows Examples)
PayPal built an internal Copilot Studio agent to support employee queries across multiple knowledge sources, reducing support workload while increasing satisfaction.
Clifford Chance (law firm) now uses Copilot Studio for compliance support and automating routine legal tasks.Projectum – AI Builder + Copilot in Power PPM
This project portfolio management solution allows users to manage schedules, risk logs, and SWOT analyses directly in Power PPM. It leverages AI Builder for prompts and insights, and Copilot Studio for conversational experiences, elevating value for users.
Simplify Your Decision with GEM365
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Why Use AI in Power Platform at All?
AI is becoming essential for staying competitive. With Power Platform, Microsoft has made artificial intelligence accessible to everyday users. You don’t need a technical background to start automating tasks, analyzing data, or building smart assistants.
Tools like AI Builder help you make faster, data-driven decisions by predicting trends, extracting key information, and spotting patterns you might miss. Meanwhile, Copilot Studio gives your users a more interactive experience by letting them chat with bots that can answer questions, solve problems, or complete tasks in real time.
Together, these tools reduce the time it takes to build apps or workflows, lower IT dependency, and increase innovation across your business. Whether you’re in customer service, finance, HR, or operations, AI in Power Platform helps you do more. Whether your goal is to build chatbot with AI Builder and Copilot Studio or optimize document workflows, Power Platform AI integration is the key.
Final Thoughts
AI is no longer limited to tech experts. With AI Builder and Copilot Studio in Microsoft Power Platform, anyone can create apps and workflows that think, respond, and improve over time. Whether you need to process documents faster, help customers with smart chatbots, or predict trends from your business data, these tools make it possible.
By combining the power of data with conversational AI, you get solutions that are not only efficient but also engaging. And with real-world success stories across industries, it’s clear that AI in Power Platform is already transforming the way businesses work today.
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