News from the AI & ML world
DeeperML - #copilot
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@www.microsoft.com
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Microsoft is leading the charge in AI-driven automation with the introduction of new tools and protocols designed to empower businesses through AI agents. At Microsoft Build 2025, the company announced the Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers for Microsoft Dynamics 365 ERP and CRM business applications. These servers aim to streamline the integration of AI agents into business processes, enabling customers and partners to build AI-powered agents more quickly and efficiently. This move is part of a broader vision of the "autonomous enterprise," where AI and automation drive innovation and adaptation.
Microsoft's initiatives also include advancements in agentic user experience (AUX). The company recently unveiled Magentic-UI, an open-source agentic web interface built on the Magentic-One architecture. Magentic-UI is designed to support complex, multi-step task workflows through human-AI collaboration. By combining large language models (LLMs), containerized execution environments, and real-time user feedback, Magentic-UI offers a cohesive platform for dynamic and secure task automation, moving beyond simple chat interfaces to provide more sophisticated agent interactions. In addition to these developments, Microsoft is also focused on ensuring the security and interoperability of AI agents. The company recognizes the need for evolving identity standards, particularly OAuth, to manage how agents access data and act across connected systems. Microsoft has launched the public preview of its Conditional Access Optimizer Agent, a multi-functional AI agent that analyzes an organization's Conditional Access policies, identifies security gaps, and recommends policy improvements. Furthermore, Microsoft is investing in agents for developer and operations workflows, such as SWE and SRE agents, to boost productivity in application development and maintenance, reinforcing the importance of standardization in the AI ecosystem. Recommended read:
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@www.microsoft.com
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References:
The Pragmatic Engineer
, The Rundown AI
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Microsoft recently held its Build 2025 developer conference, showcasing a range of new AI-powered tools and providing a sneak peek into experimental projects. One of the overarching themes of the event was the company's heavy investment in Artificial Intelligence, with nearly every major announcement being related to Generative AI. Microsoft is also focused on AI agents designed to augment and amplify the capabilities of organizations. For instance, marketing agents could propose and execute digital marketing campaign plans, while engineering agents could autonomously create specifications for new features and begin testing them.
At Build, Microsoft highlighted its commitment to "dogfooding" its own AI dev tools. This involved using Copilot within its complex .NET codebase, allowing developers to witness firsthand the agent's stumbles and successes. While this approach might appear risky, it demonstrates Microsoft's commitment to transparency and continuous improvement, differentiating it from other AI development tool vendors. The goal of Microsoft is to solidify its position as the go-to platform for developers through GitHub and Azure, while simultaneously fostering an ecosystem where other startups can build upon this foundation. One particularly intriguing experimental project unveiled at Build was Project Amelie. This AI agent is designed to build machine learning pipelines from a single prompt. Amelie ingests available data, trains models, and produces a deployable solution, essentially acting as a "mini data scientist in a box." In early testing, Microsoft claims Project Amelie has outperformed current benchmarks on MLE-Bench, a framework for evaluating machine learning agents. While Project Amelie is still in its early stages, it exemplifies Microsoft's vision for AI agents that can autonomously carry out complex AI-related tasks. Recommended read:
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Ken Yeung@Ken Yeung
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Microsoft is aggressively pursuing AI agent technology, unveiling several key initiatives at Build 2025. Project Amelie, an experimental AI agent, is designed to build machine learning pipelines autonomously from a single prompt, effectively acting as a "mini data scientist in a box." This project leverages Microsoft Research's RD agent to automate and optimize research and development processes. Early testing shows Project Amelie outperforming current benchmarks on MLE-Bench, highlighting its potential to streamline data science workflows by automating data sourcing, analysis, and review, tasks which usually take human scientists significant amounts of time to complete.
Microsoft is also focusing on integrating AI agents across its platforms, the company announced that the GitHub Copilot coding agent has been released. The GitHub Copilot coding agent is an evolution of the Copilot, transforming it into an autonomous team member capable of handling assigned GitHub issues and creating pull requests. The agent operates asynchronously in a secure environment, analyzing code and excelling at tasks like feature addition, bug fixing, code refactoring, and documentation improvement, all while adhering to security protocols and requiring human approval for critical workflows. Additionally, Microsoft Research has introduced Magentic-UI, an open-source, human-centered AI agent designed for collaborative web-based tasks. Unlike fully autonomous agents, Magentic-UI emphasizes transparency and user control, allowing real-time collaboration on tasks that require more than simple web searches. Built on Magentic-One and powered by AutoGen, Magentic-UI is integrated with Azure AI Foundry models and agents, enabling users to modify plans, provide feedback, and even take direct control of the browser. This focus on human-agent collaboration is a key aspect of Microsoft's broader AI strategy. Recommended read:
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@www.microsoft.com
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Microsoft is aggressively pursuing AI integration across a range of its products and research initiatives. One notable project is Aurora, an AI model developed by Microsoft Research to revolutionize environmental forecasting. Senior Researchers Megan Stanley and Wessel Bruinsma are leading the charge, and recently discussed how Aurora extends its capabilities to predict tropical cyclones and ocean waves. Their work, detailed in a Nature publication titled "A Foundation Model for the Earth System," highlights Aurora's potential to significantly improve weather prediction accuracy and environmental understanding.
Microsoft is also experimenting with "AI Developing AI" through Project Amelie. This experimental AI agent aims to automate the creation of machine learning pipelines from a single prompt. Microsoft reports that in early testing, Project Amelie outperforms current state-of-the-art benchmarks on MLE-Bench, a framework that evaluates how effectively machine learning agents handle real-world tasks. During a live demo at Microsoft Build 2025, Project Amelie was showcased and how it can assist data scientists by automating the process of data sourcing, analysis, and formatting. This addresses the typically manual and time-consuming tasks involved in preparing data for machine learning. However, Microsoft's AI endeavors are not without their challenges. Research by Alex Lu, a senior researcher at Microsoft, indicates that zero-shot foundation models in single-cell biology currently underperform compared to simpler methods. Lu's work suggests that more research is needed to rigorously evaluate and improve the efficacy of AI models in biological applications. These findings, highlighted in the paper "Assessing the Limits of Zero-Shot Foundation Models in Single-Cell Biology," emphasize the importance of continued research and development to fully realize the potential of AI in scientific domains. Recommended read:
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Ross Kelly@Latest from ITPro
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GitHub has launched a new AI coding agent for Copilot, designed to automate tasks and enhance developer workflows. Unveiled at Microsoft Build 2025, the coding agent is available to Copilot Enterprise and Copilot Pro+ users and is designed to handle "low-to-medium complexity tasks" such as adding features, fixing bugs, refactoring code, and improving documentation. CEO Thomas Dohmke highlighted that the agent is embedded directly within GitHub, activated by assigning a GitHub issue to Copilot.
The coding agent operates within a secure and customizable development environment powered by GitHub Actions. Once a task is assigned, the agent boots a virtual machine, clones the relevant repository, sets up the development environment, analyzes the codebase, and pushes changes to a draft pull request. Developers can monitor the agent's progress through session logs, ensuring transparency throughout the process. Crucially, all pull requests require human approval before CI/CD workflows are executed, adding an extra layer of security. In related news, GitHub and Microsoft are joining forces with Anthropic on the Model Context Protocol (MCP) standard. This move aims to create safer AI agent deployments by establishing a universal protocol for AI models to access data from apps and services. MCP allows AI clients to discover servers and call their functions without extra coding. Microsoft and GitHub will add first-party support across Azure and Windows to help developers expose app features as MCP servers, improve security, and add a registry to list trusted MCP servers. Recommended read:
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@blogs.microsoft.com
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Microsoft is doubling down on its commitment to artificial intelligence, particularly through its Copilot platform. The company is showcasing Copilot as a central AI model for Windows users and is planning to roll out new features. A new memory feature is undergoing testing for Copilot Pro users, enabling the AI to retain contextual information about users, mimicking the functionality of ChatGPT. This personalization feature, accessible via the "Privacy" tab in Copilot's settings, allows the AI to remember user preferences and prior tasks, enhancing its utility for tasks like drafting documents or scheduling.
Microsoft is also making strategic moves concerning its Office 365 and Microsoft 365 suites in response to an EU antitrust investigation. To address concerns about anti-competitive bundling practices related to its Teams communication app, Microsoft plans to offer these productivity suites without Teams at a lower price point. Teams will also be available as a standalone product. This initiative aims to provide users with more choice and address complaints that the inclusion of Teams unfairly disadvantages competitors. Microsoft has also committed to improving interoperability, enabling rival software to integrate more effectively with its services. Satya Nadella, Microsoft's CEO, is focused on making AI models accessible to customers through Azure, regardless of their origin. Microsoft's strategy involves providing various AI models to maximize profit gains, even those developed outside of Microsoft. Nadella emphasizes that Microsoft's allegiance isn't tied exclusively to OpenAI's models but encompasses a broader approach to AI accessibility. Microsoft believes ChatGPT and Copilot are similar however the company is working hard to encourage users to use Copilot by adding features such as its new memory function and not supporting the training of the ChatGPT model. Recommended read:
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Agencies Ghacks@gHacks Technology News
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www.artificialintelligence-new
, gHacks Technology News
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Microsoft is enhancing its Windows 11 operating system with the introduction of the "Hey, Copilot!" wake word, allowing users to activate the AI assistant hands-free. This new feature enables users to initiate conversations and tasks through voice commands, streamlining interaction with Windows 11. By simply saying "Hey, Copilot!", users can invoke the AI and begin a dialogue without needing to use a mouse or keyboard. This aims to provide a more intuitive and accessible way to engage with the operating system, especially when users are occupied with other tasks.
The "Hey, Copilot!" feature is an opt-in setting that users can enable within the Copilot app's settings. Once activated, a microphone icon will appear on the screen, indicating that Copilot is listening. The system uses an on-device wake word spotter that is designed to only detect the "Hey, Copilot!" phrase. To address privacy concerns, Microsoft states that the spotter has a 10-second audio buffer that isn't recorded or stored locally. Instead, audio from when the wake word is detected is sent to the cloud to answer the user's question. Currently, the "Hey, Copilot!" feature is rolling out to Windows Insiders with Copilot app version 1.25051.10.0 and higher, and is limited to users who have set their display language to English. Microsoft is also making strategic shifts internally, including cutting approximately 7,000 jobs, or 3% of its workforce, to increase investment in artificial intelligence. The job cuts primarily affect middle management and non-technical staff, reflecting a broader trend in the tech industry to streamline operations and prioritize AI development. This realignment includes a significant investment of up to $80 billion in AI infrastructure, such as data centers, to support the computational demands of training and running AI models. Recommended read:
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Chris McKay@Maginative
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Microsoft is formally partnering with Google on the Agent2Agent (A2A) protocol, signaling a major step towards interoperability in AI systems. This move will enable AI agents to communicate and collaborate across different platforms and organizational boundaries, a previously significant limitation of current AI technology. Microsoft is integrating the A2A protocol into its Azure AI Foundry and Copilot Studio, allowing enterprise customers to build multiagent workflows that span partner tools and production infrastructure. This partnership reflects the industry’s recognition that achieving seamless AI collaboration requires shared standards and open protocols.
The endorsement of Google DeepMind's A2A protocol and Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol (MCP) by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is expected to accelerate the development and adoption of agentic AI. Nadella's support is seen as a catalyst for further collaboration within the AI community, potentially leading to the creation of new agentic-based applications and platforms. He highlighted the importance of open protocols like A2A and MCP for enabling an agentic web, emphasizing that these standards allow customers to build agentic systems that interoperate by design. This commitment to open architectures aligns with Nadella’s long-standing belief that open standards are crucial for driving the adoption of new AI technologies. Microsoft is joining over 50 technology partners, including Salesforce, Oracle, and SAP, in supporting the A2A standard created by Google. The company is also actively contributing to the A2A working group on GitHub, a Microsoft subsidiary, to further develop the specification and tooling. The A2A protocol allows AI agents to securely exchange goals, manage state, invoke actions, and return results, facilitating complex workflows across multiple specialized agents. Microsoft’s commitment to A2A underscores the shift towards an "open garden" approach, where AI systems can effectively work together regardless of their origin, marking a foundational shift in how software is built and decisions are made. Recommended read:
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@zdnet.com
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Microsoft has introduced a new AI-powered agent for settings control in Copilot+ PCs, designed to simplify how users adjust their computer settings. The agent utilizes on-device AI to understand natural language queries, allowing users to ask questions like "how to control my PC by voice" or "my mouse pointer is too small." The AI will then either provide an answer or automatically make the requested changes, streamlining the user experience and eliminating the need to navigate through complex menus. Initially, this feature will support English language queries and is being rolled out to Copilot+ PCs equipped with Snapdragon chips, with plans to expand support to Intel and AMD-powered computers in the near future.
Microsoft is also enhancing the capabilities of its Click to Do feature for Copilot AI assistance. This feature, accessible while a computer screen is active, will now be able to act on text or images. Examples include creating bulleted lists from selected text or drafting copy into Microsoft Word, improving efficiency in content creation. Additionally, new actions will include scheduling meetings, sending messages via Microsoft Teams, and transferring data to Microsoft Excel. The agent will also support a computer's Reading Coach and Immersive Reader modes. These AI enhancements aim to seamlessly integrate AI into everyday computing tasks. Beyond the settings control agent and Click to Do improvements, Windows search is receiving AI-driven upgrades, enabling users to find files using natural language. Copilot will also gain support for screen sharing through Copilot Vision on Windows. Microsoft will also add enhanced search to its Photos app, showcasing Microsoft's commitment to leveraging AI to improve the overall Windows 11 and Copilot+ PC user experience. Recommended read:
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Alexey Shabanov@TestingCatalog
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Microsoft is aggressively expanding the AI capabilities within its Copilot ecosystem, incorporating task automation and enhanced content creation tools. The company is currently testing "Agent Actions" in Microsoft Copilot, a feature designed to automate daily computing tasks. This capability, initially limited to select testers or Copilot Pro subscribers, is intended to allow users to delegate tasks during brief sessions. Furthermore, Copilot now includes native image generation powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4o model, replacing DALL-E 3. This upgrade allows users across various platforms to generate higher-quality visuals directly within the app, negating the need for third-party integrations.
Microsoft is also refining the visual identity of Copilot, evolving the appearances of its AI personas. The fourth character, resembling a bubblegum or cloud, is undergoing further design changes. These characters, which serve as a branding layer, are expected to be further refined before their full release. These changes align with Microsoft's focus on seamlessly integrating productivity, assistance, and personality within the Copilot AI environment. Copilot for Sales is receiving significant updates aimed at streamlining sales workflows and improving CRM integration. These improvements include improved extensibility for third-party insights in email summaries within Outlook, providing partners the ability to surface richer sales insights. Additionally, sellers can now directly save AI-generated meeting summaries to CRM systems such as Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Salesforce from Teams, eliminating the need for manual logging. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has stated that the company's AI model performance is doubling every six months due to improvements in pre-training, inference, and system design. Recommended read:
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@zdnet.com
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Microsoft is rolling out a wave of new AI-powered features for Windows 11 and Copilot+ PCs, aiming to enhance user experience and streamline various tasks. A key addition is an AI agent designed to assist users in navigating and adjusting Windows 11 settings. This agent will understand user intent through natural language, allowing them to simply describe the setting they wish to change, such as adjusting mouse pointer size or enabling voice control. With user permission, the AI agent can then automate and execute the necessary adjustments. This feature, initially available to Windows Insiders on Snapdragon X Copilot+ PCs, seeks to eliminate the frustration of searching for and changing settings manually.
Microsoft is also enhancing Copilot with new AI skills, including the ability to act on screen content. One such action, "Ask Copilot," will enable users to draft content in Microsoft Word based on on-screen information, or create bulleted lists from selected text. These capabilities aim to boost productivity by leveraging generative AI to quickly process and manipulate information. Furthermore, the Windows 11 Start menu is undergoing a revamp, offering easier access to apps and a phone companion panel for quick access to information from synced iPhones or Android devices. The updated Start menu, along with the new AI features, will first be available to Windows Insiders running Snapdragon X Copilot Plus PCs. In a shift toward passwordless security, Microsoft is removing the password autofill feature from its Authenticator app, encouraging users to transition to Microsoft Edge for password management. Starting in June 2025, users will no longer be able to save new passwords in the Authenticator app, with autofill functionality being removed in July 2025. By August 2025, saved passwords will no longer be accessible in the app. Microsoft argues that this change streamlines the process, as passwords will be synced with the Microsoft account and accessible through Edge. However, users who do not use Edge may find this transition less seamless, as they will need to install Edge and make it the default autofill provider to maintain access to their saved passwords. Recommended read:
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@blogs.microsoft.com
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blogs.microsoft.com
, www.microsoft.com
Microsoft is aggressively pursuing an AI-first strategy, aiming to transform business operations for its customers. A key component of this initiative is the development and deployment of agentic AI solutions. According to Microsoft CEO Nadella, a significant portion of Microsoft's code, specifically 20% to 30%, is now generated by AI, showcasing the company's deep integration of AI into its core development processes. This AI-driven approach promises to accelerate innovation and enable businesses to achieve more through autonomous capabilities.
Microsoft has officially launched Recall AI for Windows 11, an AI-powered search feature that captures periodic screenshots of user activity. This feature is available on Copilot+ PCs through the April 2025 non-security preview update. Recall aims to provide AI-driven memory search. Addressing earlier privacy concerns, Microsoft has ensured that Recall is disabled by default, requires opt-in, and encrypts all data locally. Access to this data requires Windows Hello authentication, and users can delete snapshots or block specific apps and websites from being recorded. To further solidify its commitment to AI, Microsoft is expanding its cloud and AI infrastructure in Europe as part of five digital commitments. The company is also focused on helping organizations modernize their technology stacks to leverage AI effectively. According to a 2024 Forrester study, continuous modernization, including the incorporation of generative AI, is critical for driving competitive advantage. By setting a strong cloud foundation and embracing continuous migration and modernization, businesses can unlock the full potential of AI and remain competitive in a rapidly evolving technological landscape. Recommended read:
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@www.microsoft.com
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Tony Bradley
, www.microsoft.com
Microsoft is at the forefront of a workplace revolution, driven by the rapid advancement of AI. According to their 2025 Work Trend Index, AI agents are transforming how businesses operate, particularly in customer service and security operations. These agents, powered by sophisticated AI, are designed to augment human capabilities, enabling companies to scale rapidly, operate with agility, and generate value faster. The report highlights the emergence of "Frontier Firms," organizations built around on-demand AI and human-agent teams, where employees act as "agent bosses."
Microsoft envisions a future where every employee will have an AI assistant, and AI agents will join teams as "digital colleagues," taking on specific tasks. Eventually, humans will set directions for these agents, who will then execute business processes and workflows independently, with their human supervisors checking in as needed. This shift represents a move from simple coding assistance to AI agents capable of handling complex tasks, such as end-to-end logistics in a supply chain, while humans guide the system and manage relationships with suppliers. This transformation is expected to impact various knowledge work professions, including scientists, academics, and lawyers. The company also introduced AI service agents for Dynamics 365 Customer Service and Contact Center. These agents are available in public preview and include Case Management, Customer Intent, and Customer Knowledge Management agents. These AI agents learn to address emerging issues, uncover new knowledge, and automate manual processes to boost business efficiency and reduce costs. The Case Management Agent simplifies case management, reduces handling time, and improves customer satisfaction, while the Customer Intent Agent uses generative AI to analyze past interactions and provide tailored solutions. Microsoft is also emphasizing the importance of securing, managing, and measuring agent workstreams with the Copilot Control System, ensuring that businesses can effectively mitigate risks and track the ROI of their AI agent deployments. Recommended read:
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@www.microsoft.com
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Microsoft is aggressively integrating AI into its services to boost productivity and user experience. A key development is the rollout of Microsoft Copilot for Judges in UK courts, alongside updated guidelines for GenAI usage. These efforts are part of a broader strategy to embrace human-agent collaboration, as seen in the latest Microsoft 365 Copilot upgrades. The goal is to harness AI's capabilities while ensuring responsible and secure implementation across various sectors.
The UK Courts and Tribunals Judiciary are encouraging judges to utilize Microsoft’s ‘Copilot Chat’ genAI capability through their eJudiciary platform. Updated guidance emphasizes that while useful, judges must use genAI cautiously and understand its limitations, particularly concerning the accuracy and sources of information. Judges are warned that public AI chatbots do not provide answers from authoritative databases and are not necessarily the most accurate source. Microsoft has assured that ‘Copilot Chat’ offers enterprise data protection and operates within Microsoft 365's security frameworks when accessed via the eJudiciary account. Microsoft is also working to enhance safety and security in AI agent systems. The Microsoft AI Red Team has released a whitepaper outlining the taxonomy of failure modes in AI agents, to help security professionals and machine learning engineers understand potential risks. This effort involved cataloging failures from internal red teaming, collaboration with various Microsoft teams, and interviews with external practitioners. The taxonomy identifies failure modes across security and safety pillars, addressing issues from data exfiltration to biased service delivery. Recommended read:
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Thomas Claburn@The Register
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Microsoft is significantly advancing human-agent collaboration with the latest upgrades to its Microsoft 365 Copilot. The tech giant is rolling out new updates, including Researcher and Analyst agents designed to enhance workplace productivity by providing in-depth research and data analysis. These AI agents, powered by OpenAI's deep reasoning models, are envisioned as digital colleagues capable of performing complex workplace tasks, helping professionals tackle intricate challenges with advanced reasoning capabilities. This aligns with Microsoft’s broader AI-first strategy, aiming to scale digital labor and drive substantial productivity gains for companies adopting these technologies.
Microsoft is also unveiling a redesigned Microsoft 365 Copilot app featuring AI-powered search and an Agent Store, positioning it as the central hub for human-agent collaboration. The new AI-powered enterprise search tool, Copilot Search, organizes data across the enterprise, providing rich, context-aware answers from first-party and third-party apps like ServiceNow, Google Drive, and Jira. The Agent Store provides access to Microsoft’s Researcher and Analyst agents, initially introduced in March and available to those enrolled in Microsoft’s Frontier program. Moreover, Microsoft is adding new capabilities to its Control System feature to assist IT professionals in overseeing and measuring bot usage effectively. These updates are part of a broader effort to integrate AI across the Microsoft ecosystem, addressing the increasing demand for AI-powered solutions in the enterprise. According to Microsoft’s 2025 Work Trend Index report, a significant majority of companies are rethinking their strategies to leverage AI, signaling a decisive move toward full-scale AI transformation. Key features include AI-powered enterprise search, personalized memory capabilities, specialized reasoning agents like Researcher and Analyst, and the Agent Store. The Researcher agent helps with multi-step research tasks, while the Analyst agent provides data science capabilities. Recommended read:
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@www.amd.com
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IEEE Spectrum
AMD is embracing a comprehensive strategy for AI coding assistance, extending its focus beyond mere code generation to encompass the entire software development lifecycle. This holistic approach involves fine-tuning coding copilots and adapting large language models to assist with various stages of software development, including code review, optimization, and bug report generation. By implementing AI at each step, AMD aims to achieve transformative results and a substantial increase in developer productivity.
This strategic move reflects a growing recognition that the transformative potential of AI in software development lies in its ability to assist with more than just writing code. AMD envisions a future where AI agents play a key role in each phase of the software development process. To realize this vision, AMD is combining generative and predictive AI to create specialized agents that can aid in tasks such as identifying logic flaws, suggesting improvements, and ensuring code maintainability. AMD anticipates a significant boost in productivity, projecting a 25 percent increase over the next few years as a result of its holistic AI implementation. The company's approach focuses on integrating AI seamlessly into the software development lifecycle, recognizing that coding assistance is just one component of the broader development process. By addressing various aspects such as debugging, code review, and optimization, AMD aims to provide developers with a comprehensive suite of AI-powered tools that will streamline workflows and enhance efficiency. Recommended read:
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Alexey Shabanov@TestingCatalog
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The Lalit Blogs
, www.microsoft.com
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Microsoft is significantly enhancing its AI integration within knowledge work tools, focusing on boosting critical thinking, decision-making, and creativity. This initiative is underscored by findings from the Semantic Telemetry Project, revealing that professionals who incorporate AI into their routines are more likely to continue using these tools and increase their usage. Microsoft Research is actively exploring AI systems as "Tools for Thought," aiming to reimagine AI's role in augmenting human intellect. The company presented four new research papers and cohosted a workshop at the CHI 2025 conference, diving deep into the intersection of AI and human cognition.
Microsoft's Copilot AI is expanding with the early testing of a new podcast-generation feature. This tool can transform nearly any topic or user-provided material into a concise, conversational show. Copilot analyzes the content, develops a script for two synthetic hosts, and uses neural text-to-speech technology to create a dynamic summary. Users can interact with the podcast in real-time, pausing to ask questions that Copilot will adapt to, streamlining multitasking and improving the user experience. The Microsoft Copilot AI Podcast feature was outlined during Microsoft's 50th-anniversary Copilot event on April 4, 2025, and in a follow-up blog post. Microsoft is also focusing on user-friendly automation with the New Copilot Studio Feature. Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat is being introduced as an AI-powered conversational assistant that integrates with tools like Word, Excel, Teams, and Outlook. It can interpret context, offer suggestions, and draft responses, leveraging OpenAI's capabilities to make work smarter and faster. Copilot Chat provides context-aware assistance, enhanced communication by drafting emails and summarizing threads, efficient data insights in Excel, and real-time collaboration, bridging the gap between documents and communication tools. Recommended read:
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@www.microsoft.com
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Microsoft is pushing forward on multiple fronts to enhance its AI offerings, particularly within the Copilot ecosystem. Recent updates include the testing of new voices, "Birch" and "Rain," alongside a sneak peek at a fourth avatar, "Ellie," for the assistant. These additions aim to personalize the Copilot experience across Windows, web, and mobile platforms, giving it a clearer identity without fundamentally altering its core language model with each update. The new avatar, Ellie, is currently under development, and while only its background is loading, the animated figure is absent, hinting at a release window that is still undefined. These incremental avatar and voice additions are part of a broader strategy to give Copilot a clearer personality.
Microsoft's Semantic Telemetry Project is revealing insights into user engagement with AI. The data shows a strong correlation between the complexity and professional nature of tasks undertaken with AI and the likelihood of continued and increased usage. Individuals employing AI for more technical, complex, and professional tasks are more inclined to continue using the tool and to interact with it more frequently. Novice AI users tend to start with simpler tasks, but the complexity of their engagement increases over time. However, more expert users are satisfied with AI responses only where AI expertise is on par with their own expertise on the topic, while novice users had low satisfaction rates regardless of AI expertise. Furthermore, Microsoft is tackling AI model efficiency with the development of BitNet b1.58 2B4T, a 1-bit large language model (LLM) featuring two billion parameters. This model is designed to run efficiently on CPUs, even an Apple M2 chip. BitNet achieves this efficiency through its 1.58-bit weights, using only three possible values (-1, 0, and +1), significantly reducing memory requirements and computational power compared to traditional models. While BitNet’s simplicity makes it less accurate compared to larger AI models, it compensates with a massive training dataset. The model is readily available on Hugging Face, allowing experimentation with it. Recommended read:
References :
Lalit Mohan@The Lalit Blogs
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References:
TestingCatalog
, Ken Yeung
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Microsoft is enhancing Copilot with new features aimed at transforming user interaction and productivity. One of the most exciting additions is the podcast-generation feature, currently in early testing. This capability allows users to convert virtually any topic or user-supplied materials into dynamic, AI-driven audio shows. The tool scripts a back-and-forth conversation between two synthetic hosts, providing listeners with a summary that adapts in real time based on user interaction, streamlining multitasking and promising a better user experience.
The podcast feature, initially outlined at Microsoft's 50th-anniversary Copilot event in April 2025, allows users to input a topic or paste source content, which Copilot then analyzes to draft a script and render the dialogue using its neural text-to-speech stack. While AI-generated podcasts aren't entirely new, integrating them directly into Copilot allows Microsoft to compete more effectively in multimodal output, enhancing user engagement through richer interactions. Microsoft plans to roll out Copilot Podcasts in the coming weeks, with enterprise, mobile, and API access slated for later in the year after testing concludes. Alongside the podcast feature, Microsoft continues to update Copilot with new functionalities and improvements, including enhancements to its shopping experience and the introduction of new voices. Users in the U.S. can now shop with ease directly on Copilot, accessing product details, alternative retailer offers, and price insights. The addition of Birch and Rain voices provides users with more options for interacting with Copilot. These updates, regularly highlighted in Microsoft’s Copilot Release Notes, demonstrate the ongoing evolution of Copilot as an AI-driven tool aimed at simplifying technology for businesses and individuals. Recommended read:
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Madeline Clarke@techrepublic.com
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Microsoft Copilot Studio is enhancing its capabilities with new computer use tools, granting users access to complex GUI automation. This update allows for the automation of various tasks such as data entry and market research, all without the need for APIs. This early access to computer use features represents a significant step forward, simplifying intricate GUI interactions and broadening the scope of tasks that can be automated within the Copilot Studio environment.
The introduction of these computer use tools within Microsoft Copilot Studio aims to streamline and simplify automation processes. This means that users can now automate GUI tasks more efficiently, handling complex interactions with ease. The focus on complex GUI automation suggests that Microsoft is targeting tasks that typically require significant manual effort, providing a more streamlined approach to everyday business processes. As detailed in the Microsoft Copilot Blog on April 16, 2025, this development is part of a broader effort to enhance Copilot's functionality and accessibility. Regular updates and new features, including firmware updates and more, are consistently being added to Copilot, which keeps in line with Microsoft's ongoing commitment to refining the Copilot experience. This move further establishes Copilot as a versatile and adaptive AI assistant, offering innovative solutions for a wide range of user needs. Recommended read:
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Alexey Shabanov@TestingCatalog
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Microsoft has announced significant enhancements to its Copilot AI assistant, including the launch of the Copilot Merchant Program. This new initiative aims to integrate third-party retailers directly into the Copilot ecosystem, allowing users to receive real-time product suggestions and price alerts. Retailers participating in the program can embed their product catalogs into Copilot, ensuring their offerings are accurately represented and visible to a wider audience of potential customers. This integration promises to streamline the shopping experience for Copilot users, enabling them to complete purchases seamlessly within the app.
Microsoft is also expanding Copilot's capabilities with new features designed to enhance the shopping experience. Users can now dive deeper into product details with the "View details" button, access additional product images, review summaries, and explore pros and cons. Copilot offers features like Filter Interactions, which allows users to select desired options for products with multiple attributes, and Buying Options, which lists alternative retailer offers for price comparison. Price Insights show the high, low, current, and average prices for a product over the last 13 months, and Easier Checkout simplifies the process for select retailers. Further updates include the introduction of two new voices, Birch and Rain, for Copilot. For macOS users, a long press of Option + Space now activates the Press to Talk feature, enabling voice interaction with Copilot. These updates reflect Microsoft's ongoing commitment to improving Copilot's functionality and user experience. Microsoft is encouraging users to explore Copilot Labs to experience experimental features before their public release, and is providing regular updates via the Copilot Release Notes. Recommended read:
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Alexey Shabanov@TestingCatalog
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Microsoft is significantly expanding the integration of artificial intelligence across its platforms, aiming to enhance productivity and user experience. Key initiatives include advancements in Copilot Studio, Dynamics 365 Field Service, and Azure AI Foundry, along with a focus on cybersecurity and AI safety. These efforts demonstrate Microsoft's commitment to embedding AI into various aspects of its software and services, transforming how users interact with technology.
Copilot Studio is gaining a "computer use" tool, available as an early access research preview, allowing agents to interact with graphical user interfaces across websites and desktop applications. This feature enables the automation of tasks, such as data entry and market research, even for systems lacking direct API integration, marking an evolution in robotic process automation (RPA). Moreover, Microsoft is launching the Copilot Merchant Program, integrating third-party retailers into its AI ecosystem for real-time product suggestions and seamless purchases. Microsoft is also actively addressing cybersecurity concerns related to AI through its Secure Future Initiative (SFI). This initiative focuses on improving Microsoft's security posture and working with governments and industry to enhance the security of the entire digital ecosystem. Additionally, Microsoft Research is exploring AI systems as "Tools for Thought" at CHI 2025, examining how AI can support critical thinking, decision-making, and creativity, as part of its ongoing effort to reimagine AI’s role in human thinking and knowledge work. Recommended read:
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@the-decoder.com
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References:
the-decoder.com
, www.marktechpost.com
Microsoft is pushing further into the AI realm with new advancements to Copilot Studio and open-source contributions. The company has launched "Computer Use" for Copilot Studio as an early research preview, as reported by The Decoder. This new feature empowers AI agents to interact directly with graphical user interfaces, extending their capabilities to control both websites and desktop applications, unlike similar offerings that primarily focus on web-based interactions. This technology leverages OpenAI's CUA, which also powers Operator, but runs entirely on Microsoft's infrastructure, ensuring company data remains within the Microsoft Cloud and isn't used for model training.
Microsoft envisions a range of applications for "Computer Use" in Copilot Studio, including automated data entry, market research, and invoice processing. The company is positioning this technology as the next step in robotic process automation (RPA), offering businesses a more intelligent and versatile way to automate tasks that previously required manual intervention. This allows AI agents to perform actions within existing software applications, streamlining workflows and improving efficiency. In addition to Copilot Studio enhancements, OpenAI has released Codex CLI, an open-source local coding agent, covered by Marktechpost. Codex CLI enables developers to translate natural language commands into executable code, streamlining development workflows. By integrating natural language processing into the command-line interface, Codex CLI aims to reduce the cognitive load associated with traditional command-line operations. Furthermore, Microsoft celebrated its 50th anniversary with Satya Nadella sharing remarks, thanking Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer and Paul Allen for their vision. Recommended read:
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@news.microsoft.com
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References:
news.microsoft.com
, The Microsoft Cloud Blog
Microsoft is aggressively expanding its AI capabilities across various sectors, introducing new AI agents designed to enhance productivity and security. Recently unveiled AI agents for Microsoft 365 Copilot, such as Researcher and Analyst, are designed to help users with complex research tasks and data analysis. Researcher can build detailed strategies, identify opportunities, and create comprehensive reports by integrating data from internal and external sources. Analyst can forecast demand and visualize customer purchasing patterns, functioning like a virtual data scientist.
Microsoft is also focused on defending against AI-enhanced cyber threats and enhancing cybersecurity measures. New AI agents within Microsoft Security Copilot and Microsoft Purview are designed to automate tasks related to phishing, data security, and identity management. For instance, a phishing triage agent can handle routine phishing alerts, allowing human cybersecurity teams to focus on more complex threats. These advancements come at a time when AI is lowering the barrier for cybercrime, with threat actors using AI tools to create convincing social engineering lures and fraudulent websites. In addition to AI advancements, Microsoft is also making strides in quantum computing, moving it from a futuristic concept to practical applications. Quantum computing is currently being used to optimize finance, discover new drugs, secure networks, and build better batteries. Furthering its AI capabilities, Microsoft has launched "Computer Use" for Copilot Studio as an early research preview, which allows AI agents to interact directly with websites and desktop applications, enabling automation even when there is no API available. Microsoft also recently introduced "Draft with Copilot" for Copilot Studio, which will help users write or rewrite prompts using Copilot to produce better outcomes, with Copilot also able to generate sample test data. Recommended read:
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@www.microsoft.com
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Microsoft researchers have unveiled Debug-Gym, a novel environment designed to enhance the debugging skills of AI coding tools. Debug-Gym allows AI agents to actively engage in the debugging process by setting breakpoints, navigating codebases, and examining runtime variable values. This interactive approach enables AI to gain a deeper understanding of code execution flow, mimicking how human developers identify and resolve errors. The platform supports both Python and Java programming languages, providing approximately 3,000 real-world debugging tasks for AI agents to learn from.
The need for Debug-Gym stems from the observation that while AI coding tools are increasingly adept at code generation, they often struggle with debugging, a critical and time-consuming aspect of software development. Current AI models often lack the ability to explore and gather additional information when initial solutions fail, leaving bugs unaddressed. Debug-Gym addresses this limitation by providing AI agents with the tools and environment to actively seek information and refine their approach, similar to how human developers use interactive debuggers like Python's pdb to inspect variables and trace execution. Debug-Gym offers buggy Python programs with known faults, spanning syntax, runtime, and logical errors, along with a tool interface exposing debugging commands. This environment is designed to evaluate how AI agents perform in realistic code-repair tasks. The intent is to facilitate the training of AI models to perform interactive debugging more effectively, potentially leading to significant time savings for developers. Microsoft intends to open-source Debug-Gym to encourage further research in this area. Recommended read:
References :
Kailyn Sylvester@Microsoft Security Blog
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Microsoft is making significant strides in the AI landscape, expanding its Copilot features to directly compete with leading AI models like ChatGPT and Gemini. These enhancements include web browsing capabilities, allowing users to task Copilot with booking tickets, making reservations, or shopping online. Furthermore, Copilot now boasts enhanced multimodal functionality, capable of analyzing live video feeds from mobile devices and responding to questions based on visual content. A key addition is the memory retention feature, enabling personalized interactions by remembering user preferences, although users retain control over managing or deleting these memories for privacy.
Microsoft is also investing in nurturing local AI start-ups through initiatives like the Cyberport x Microsoft AI Partnership Programme in Hong Kong. This program provides resources such as solution support, technical expert guidance, and business matching opportunities, aimed at enabling these start-ups to develop innovative AI solutions across various sectors. Six companies were selected to launch solutions on the Microsoft Azure Marketplace, addressing healthcare, insurance claims, risk management, and corporate sustainability. These companies showcased their technologies at a DEMO Day, attracting significant interest and fostering business collaborations. In addition to software advancements, Microsoft is pushing the boundaries of AI in gaming with WHAMM (World and Human Action MaskGIT Model). This generative AI model creates game visuals in real-time, representing a significant upgrade from its predecessor, WHAM-1.6B. WHAMM boasts faster visual output, generating images at over 10 frames per second with enhanced resolution. Trained on Quake II using intentionally curated data, WHAMM demonstrates enhanced performance in tracking existing environments and responding to user input, despite some limitations regarding stat accuracy, input lag, and context length. Recommended read:
References :
@the-decoder.com
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Microsoft is pushing the boundaries of AI in both security and gaming, showcasing new advancements in both fields. On the security front, Microsoft is hosting a Tech Accelerator event on April 22, 2025, aimed at guiding developers and cloud architects on effectively integrating security best practices within Azure and AI projects. The event will provide essential guidance and resources for secure planning, building, management, and optimization of Azure deployments and AI applications. Participants will gain insights from Microsoft experts, learn how to identify security risks in Azure environments, protect infrastructure from threats, and design secure AI environments and applications.
Microsoft is also making waves in the gaming world with its real-time AI-generated playable demo of Quake II. The company's WHAMM (World and Human Action MaskGIT Model) is a generative AI model capable of supporting real-time gameplay. This model represents a significant upgrade from its predecessor, WHAM-1.6B, offering faster visual output, improved resolution, and smarter gameplay response. WHAMM can generate images at over 10 frames per second with a resolution of 640x360, a notable enhancement compared to WHAM-1.6B. The WHAMM model was trained on Quake II using intentional data curation, focusing on high-quality data collected from professional game testers. This allowed the model to efficiently learn in-game behavior with significantly less data than previous iterations. Players can interact with the game using controllers or keyboards, with the model dynamically updating the environment to respond appropriately. While WHAMM is still in its early stages and has limitations, such as occasional input lag and challenges with accurately storing stats, its accelerated rate of advancement suggests a future where entirely AI-generated video games could become a reality. Recommended read:
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