Agent mode (a chat setting where the AI edits and runs things itself)
Japanese エージェントモード
Agent mode is a setting that switches an AI tool's chat from only answering to directly editing files or documents and running commands. Changes take effect right away, so a person should check them.
In a normal AI chat, the AI shows an answer or suggested text, and a person applies it. When you turn on agent mode, the AI finds the files it needs, edits them, fixes errors when they appear, and keeps going step by step until the task is done. GitHub Copilot introduced it for VS Code in February 2025, and Copilot in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint has the same kind of feature. It is like telling a coworker who used to only give advice that they may now make the changes themselves.
Watch out In VS Code, the AI asks for a person's approval each time it uses a tool, and changes can be undone. Read an approval request before you click it, and look over the changed files or documents yourself when the work is finished. The same feature may be renamed in different products, so check the menu name at the time you use it.
Source: GitHub, “GitHub Copilot: The agent awakens” · VS Code, “Agent mode: available to all users and supports MCP” · Microsoft 365 Blog, “Copilot's agentic capabilities in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint are generally available”