News from the AI & ML world
DeeperML - #microsoftcopilot
|
@futurumgroup.com
//
References:
www.windowslatest.com
, futurumgroup.com
Microsoft is doubling down on its commitment to the developer community by embracing agentic AI, a move highlighted at the recent Microsoft Build conference. CEO Satya Nadella emphasized the shift from AI as merely an assistant to a proactive agent capable of performing complex tasks and workflows for software teams. This signifies a pivotal moment for Microsoft, placing AI at the forefront of software development and reshaping the industry's future. Microsoft leadership acknowledged the need to collaborate with the development community to navigate this new era and build the path toward agentic AI development together, recognizing that they don't have all the answers themselves.
Microsoft is actively integrating AI agents into its development tools, notably GitHub Copilot. The new coding agent in GitHub Copilot enables developers to assign issues to the agent, which then works asynchronously to create fully tested pull requests. This is more than just autocomplete; it's a new class of software engineering agent that works like a teammate, planning work, writing code, running tests, and soliciting feedback. By automating repetitive tasks and assisting with code maintenance, the coding agent aims to free up developers to focus on more critical and creative aspects of their work, increasing efficiency and productivity. Microsoft is also emphasizing the importance of cybersecurity in the age of AI. They are rolling out free cybersecurity support for European governments, offering AI-generated insights, early warnings about security flaws, and support against state-backed attacks. Microsoft is also encouraging users to upgrade to Windows 11 for enhanced security features, as Windows 10 support is ending in October 2025. Microsoft is also showcasing its AI-first security platform at the Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit, aiming to help organizations manage risk and protect assets effectively in the face of evolving threats. Recommended read:
References :
Alexey Shabanov@TestingCatalog
//
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:
References :
@www.microsoft.com
//
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:
References :
Thomas Claburn@The Register
//
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:
References :
@www.microsoft.com
//
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
//
References:
TestingCatalog
, Ken Yeung
,
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:
References :
Alexey Shabanov@TestingCatalog
//
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:
References :
|
BenchmarksBlogsResearch Tools |