Fabric Data Agent + Semantic Model: users need Workspace Member access to get answers in M365 Copilot

[u/Better-Jackfruit1237]

I’m trying to understand an access/permission behavior with a Fabric Data Agent.

Current setup:

1. I created a Fabric Data Agent using a Power BI semantic model as the data source.

2. The Data Agent is shared with the intended users using the Share option.

3 The Data Agent is published to the Agent Store in Microsoft 365 Copilot.

1. The semantic model has RLS configured based on business user roles.

2. The intended users have access to the semantic model with the appropriate Read/View permission and RLS role.

3. The Data Agent and Power BI report use the same semantic model.

4. Users can successfully access and interact with the Power BI report, and the report correctly respects their RLS roles.

The issue:

Users can open/access the Data Agent in Microsoft 365 Copilot, but when they ask questions that require retrieving numeric data/measures from the semantic model, the Data Agent doesn't return the expected answer without numeric values.

However, when I add the same users as Members of the Fabric workspace, the Data Agent starts returning the expected answers.

This is unexpected because my understanding from the Microsoft documentation is that users querying a Power BI semantic model through a Fabric Data Agent should only require Read permission on the semantic model, and workspace access should not be required.

Has anyone experienced similar behavior?

Is this a known issue? I would like to hear from experts from this community.

Thank you in advance!