Microsoft is kicking off its three-day Build developer conference on Tuesday, May 21st, with a livestream starting at 11:30AM ET / 8:30AM PT. It’ll lead into an in-person keynote led by CEO Satya Nadella, which commences at 12PM ET / 9AM PT, followed by developer sessions that will come available to check out online.
Build is Microsoft’s developer conference where the company provides in-depth sessions for developers and professionals alike to get familiar with tools supporting new Windows 11 and Microsoft 365 features. This time, we’re expecting plenty of new AI announcements and sessions related to just-announced AI features like Recall.
Microsoft made a huge splash in the PC world on Monday announcing new Arm-powered “Copilot Plus PCs,” including a brand-new Surface Laptop and tablet. The new devices come with an emulation layer called Prism that promises seamless compatibility with x86 apps on Windows — taking a page out of Apple’s successful transition to its own M-series chips.
However, as Tom Warren wrote in his Notepad newsletter after the Surface event, “Apple’s success with the M1 was thanks to developers quickly porting apps to be fully native. Windows needs that same level of support from its developer community.” We’ll see this week if Microsoft has all the tools it needs to make that happen.
Read on for all the latest Build news.
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Highlights
- Microsoft Build 2024: everything announced
- Microsoft is bringing ‘Windows Volumetric Apps’ to Meta Quest headsets
- Microsoft is making File Explorer more powerful with version control and 7z compression
- Microsoft’s new Windows Copilot Runtime aims to win over AI developers
- Here’s the eight-inch Snapdragon PC for your Windows on Arm experiments
- Microsoft’s new Copilot AI agents act like virtual employees to automate tasks
- Microsoft Teams is adding a Slack-favorite emoji feature
- Microsoft Edge will translate and dub YouTube videos as you’re watching them
- Microsoft brings out a small language model that can look at pictures
May 23
Microsoft’s new Windows chief on the future of the OS, Surface, and those annoying ads
Photo by Allison Johnson / The VergePavan Davuluri hasn’t even been the head of Windows for two months, but he’s already been tasked with announcing Microsoft’s transition to Arm-powered chips and its big AI-powered PC ambitions. There’s a lot riding on this moment, and Davuluri now has to lead both the Surface and Windows teams through an AI era that has the potential to upend how we use computers.
Read Article >I sat down with the new Windows chief at the company’s Build developer conference this week to better understand what his vision is for Windows and Surface, whether Microsoft will still experiment with hardware, and if we should expect to see an end to the ads that are ruining the Windows experience.
May 22
Truecaller and Microsoft will let users make an AI voice to answer calls
Illustration: The VergeCaller ID company Truecaller will let users create an AI version of their voice to answer calls.
Read Article >Truecaller is an app that identifies and blocks spam calls that some people prefer over their phone’s default system. Now the service will let users with access to its AI Assistant to record their voice. The company partnered with Microsoft’s Azure AI Speech, which will learn from the recorded clip to generate an AI version of the user’s voice.
May 21
This Microsoft-approved website tracks how Windows games play on Arm
Image: LinaroWith Microsoft’s new Surfaces leading a wave of Copilot Plus PCs powered by Arm chips that could reshape our expectations of Windows laptops, you might be wondering: do they game?
Read Article >We’d already seen a few examples, like Baldur’s Gate 3 and Control — but at Build, Microsoft and Qualcomm just revealed a new website with far more examples. WorksOnWoA.com has apparently already tested 1,481 games on the Surface Laptop and other devices with Arm-based Snapdragon X Elite chips, and it lets you search to see whether your game of choice falls into one of four categories: “Perfect,” “Playable,” “Runs,” or “Unplayable.”
May 21
Microsoft Build 2024: everything announced
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella at Build 2024. Screenshot: YouTubeMicrosoft had a lot to say about Windows and AI — and a little to say about custom emoji — during the Build 2024 keynote. The company, like just about everyone else in the industry, is charging hard at cramming AI into every nook and cranny it can find. That means Copilot watching your screen to help you play Minecraft or giving you AI agent co-workers.
Read Article >The whole event was over two hours long, but you can catch the highlights below.
May 21
Windows now has AI-powered copy and paste
Illustration: The VergeMicrosoft is adding a new Advanced Paste feature to PowerToys for Windows 11 that can convert your clipboard content on the fly with the power of AI. The new feature can help people speed up their workflows by doing things like copying code in one language and pasting it in another, although its best tricks require OpenAI API credits.
Read Article >Advanced Paste is included in PowerToys version 0.81 and, once enabled, can be activated with a special key command: Windows Key + Shift + V. That opens an Advanced Paste text window that offers paste conversion options including plaintext, markdown, and JSON.
May 21
Here’s what Microsoft Edge’s real-time video translation might look like.The feature uses AI to dub spoken content into the language of your choice.
May 21
Microsoft’s Build keynote is over.That’s a wrap for the first Build keynote. We’re off to listen in to sessions and learn more about Microsoft’s big AI plans for 2024. Stay tuned for a lot more on that, soon.
May 21
Sam Altman drops tiny GPT-5 hints.It’s clear OpenAI Sam Altman isn’t at Microsoft Build to announce a new model, but he’s happy to tease that the next big one is on the way. Microsoft built an even bigger supercomputer for this work, and now Altman hints that new modalities and overall intelligence will be key to OpenAI’s next model. “The most important thing and it sounds like the most boring thing I can say... the models are just going to get smarter, generally across the board,” says Altman.
Photo: Allison Johnson / The VergeMay 21
Sam Altman appears at Microsoft Build to discuss what’s next.OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has just stepped onstage at Microsoft Build. He’s having a conversation with Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott about what’s next for OpenAI and Microsoft’s big supercomputer plans.
Photo: Allison Johnson / The VergeMay 21
Microsoft is bringing ‘Windows Volumetric Apps’ to Meta Quest headsets
“Windows + Meta.” Image: MicrosoftYou can already beam your flat Windows desktop and its VR games onto your Meta Quest headset — but what if Windows could send HoloLens-like 3D apps and digital objects to the headset, too?
Read Article >At Build, Microsoft has just announced “Windows Volumetric Apps on Meta Quest,” a way to “extend Windows apps into 3D space.”
May 21
Microsoft and Khan Academy partner on AI tools.Sal Khan, CEO of Khan Academy, is up onstage at Microsoft Build to talk about the nonprofit’s use of AI in education. Microsoft is partnering with the Khan Academy for AI-powered tutoring tools that will be free for all US educators as of today.
Photo: Allison Johnson / The VergeMay 21
Microsoft stresses the importance of GPT-4o.“It’s 12x cheaper to make a call to GPT-4o than the original model,” says Microsoft CTO and EVP of AI Kevin Scott. “It’s also 6x faster in time to open response.” These speed increases and cost decreases are super important for OpenAI’s latest model, but things aren’t going to slow down. Things will get cheaper and more robust over time, says Scott.
Photo: Allison Johnson / The VergeMay 21
Microsoft’s role in the AI wave.“We’re riding an extraordinary platform wave,” says Microsoft CTO and EVP of AI Kevin Scott onstage at Build. He likens it to the PC evolution and Moore’s Law or even broadband internet. Microsoft has been contributing to this with the company’s Copilot stack, which has helped the company build AI products quickly. “We are nowhere near... how powerful we can make AI models,” says Scott.
Photo: Allison Johnson / The VergeMay 21
Microsoft is making File Explorer more powerful with version control and 7z compression
Illustration by Alex Castro / The VergeHere’s one more way to stay on top of your favorite programming projects: have them sync to the same File Explorer you already use to navigate your hard drive in Windows.
Read Article >At Build, Microsoft now says it’s adding native version control to File Explorer by integrating systems like Git, letting you see new changes and comments directly from the app.
May 21
Do legendary shit.That’s what Microsoft CTO and EVP of AI Kevin Scott said last year at Build, just as the company was unveiling its AI tools. “I want to thank you all for the great shit that you’ve made over the past year,” says Scott, as he steps onstage at Build 2024.
Photo: Allison Johnson / The VergeMay 21
Microsoft’s new Windows Copilot Runtime aims to win over AI developers
Photo: Allison Johnson / The VergeMicrosoft launched a range of Copilot Plus PCs yesterday that includes new AI features built directly into Windows 11. Behind the scenes, the company now has more than 40 AI models running on Windows 11 thanks to a new Windows Copilot Runtime that will also allow developers to use these models for their apps.
Read Article >At Microsoft Build today, the company is providing a lot more details about exactly how this Windows Copilot Runtime works. The runtime includes a library of APIs that developers can tap into for their own apps, with AI frameworks and toolchains that are designed for developers to ship their own on-device models on Windows.
May 21
Find the orange courch.We’ve all made a typo, but I do love them during huge keynotes. Thankfully for Microsoft, it looks like even if you make spelling mistakes when using the new AI-powered Recall feature, it’ll still find that orange couch for you 😉
Photo: Allison Johnson / The VergeMay 21
“Windows is the most open platform for AI.”Microsoft’s Windows chief, Pavan Davuluri, is discussing the company’s new push to get developers to build AI apps on Windows. He argues Windows is the most open platform for AI, just hours after announcing a new Windows Copilot Runtime that sets the stage for the next decade of Windows app development.
Photo: Allison Johnson / The VergeMay 21
Microsoft’s Windows chief is here to talk about Copilot Plus PCs.Pavan Davuluri had a busy day announcing new Arm-based Surface devices yesterday and a big push to bring more AI-powered experiences and apps to Windows. The Windows and Surface chief is now onstage at Microsoft Build to discuss Microsoft’s Copilot Plus PCs and Windows AI.
Photo: Allison Johnson / The VergeMay 21
Microsoft Teams loves developers, apparently.Microsoft is making some improvements to Teams aimed at developers. You can now paste source code inside Teams with syntax formatting. There’s even co-editing with Loop, better keyboard shortcuts, and custom emoji.
Photo: Allison Johnson / The VergeMay 21
Microsoft’s Copilot extensions are designed to extend its AI assistant.Microsoft’s Jeff Teper, head of collab apps and platforms, is walking the Build audience through the company’s new Copilot connectors and extensions. They’re designed for businesses to extend the AI assistant to their line of business apps and add data from public websites, SharePoint, OneDrive, and more.
Photo: Allison Johnson / The VergeMay 21
Microsoft Copilot time.Rajesh Jha, Microsoft’s head of experiences and devices, is up next at Build to discuss everything Copilot. It’s largely a recap so far, but there’s a lot of new Copilot features on the way.
Photo: Allison Johnson / The VergeMay 21
Microsoft now has a Team Copilot.Microsoft’s new Team Copilot feature will allow the assistant to manage meeting agendas and notes, moderate lengthy team chats, or help assign tasks and track deadlines in Microsoft Planner. It’s part of a new wave of agent capabilities for Copilot that you can read more about right here.
Photo: Allison Johnson / The VergeMay 21
1.8 million GitHub Copilot subscribers.One of the first big uses of generative AI for Microsoft, GitHub Copilot, now has 1.8 million paid users. Microsoft is launching GitHub Copilot extensions today to make the service even more extensible.
Photo: Allison Johnson / The VergeMay 21
Sam Altman to appear at Microsoft Build.Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says Sam Altman will appear onstage at Build soon to “talk about what’s next” with Microsoft CTO and EVP of AI Kevin Scott. Will we hear about OpenAI’s search engine, powered partly by Bing? GPT-5? Vague promises of the AI future? Stay tuned.
Photo: Allison Johnson / The Verge
