Agents in Viva Engage Communities: AI support for more knowledge and engagement

Introduction Why exciting? How amd What Admin knowledge Outlook Conclusion Contact

Sharing knowledge, answering questions and keeping communities alive is the goal of Viva Engage. With the new agents, this becomes even easier and more efficient.

Why exciting?

Why are agents in Viva Engage so exciting right now?

In many communities, questions often remain unanswered or are asked multiple times. This costs time, slows down knowledge sharing and frustrates members. This is exactly where the new AI-powered agents come in. They help automatically answer open questions and make knowledge faster to access for everyone. The feature is brand new and currently in public preview.

How amd What

How do the agents work?

Automatic answer suggestions: Every 15 to 20 minutes, the agent scans the community for unanswered questions (no “Best” or “Verified” answer, younger than 14 days).
Answers based on community content: The AI uses previous posts and, as soon as available, SharePoint content to generate solid answers.
Flexible control: Admins can define if answers are posted automatically or only after review by admins or experts.
Transparency: Agents respond only when they find relevant content that all community members can access.

What does this mean in practice?

Faster answers: Members receive solid information quickly, even when no expert is online.
Fewer duplicate questions: The AI points to existing threads and helps avoid repetitions.
More engagement: Communities stay active and knowledge is shared and documented more effectively.
Relief for admins and experts: The AI handles routine questions so that specialists can focus on more complex topics.

Admin knowledge

What should admins know?

License: The feature requires a Microsoft 365 Copilot license for community admins.
Activation: The feature can be activated in the Viva Engage Admin Center (Public Preview).
Configuration: Admins can add additional SharePoint libraries as a knowledge source and control the publishing process.
Review mode: When review is enabled, admins or experts are notified when the agent suggests an answer. They can review, adjust or discard it. [learn.microsoft.com]

Outlook

Agents in Viva Engage communities are a major step toward smarter knowledge management and lively communities. The integration of SharePoint as a knowledge source will further improve the quality of answers. General availability is planned for early 2026.