Microsoft Build: News on VS Code, GitHub Copilot, and Cosmos DB

We are entering a moment where Artificial Intelligence is becoming accessible to everyone, enabling developers to create innovative solutions that positively impact the world.

In this article:

The Future of Programming with Autonomous Agents

At the Build conference 2025, Satya Nadella highlighted how programming with autonomous agents is transforming software development. He compared this change to milestones like the emergence of Win 32 in 1991 and the growth of cloud computing in 2008. The current evolution centers on an agentic web that is open and scalable, empowering developers at all layers of the stack.

This new era allows delegating complex tasks to digital agents, enabling more efficient automation. With autonomous agents, developers can assign coding and maintenance tasks automatically. This speeds up development and frees programmers to focus on creative solutions.

Microsoft is investing in tools that integrate AI and machine learning to optimize these agents. GitHub Copilot, for example, has evolved to handle bug fixes, maintenance, and new feature development autonomously.

This transformation is reshaping how software is developed and redefining the programmer’s role. Developers now become system architects, overseeing the work of agents handling repetitive tasks. This represents a shift in the software industry, promoting a more collaborative approach.

The integration of autonomous agents into platforms like Microsoft 365 Copilot allows these technologies to be applied to various business tasks. This reinforces Microsoft's commitment to continuous innovation and democratizing technology.

Programming with autonomous agents promises not only to transform software development but also to redefine the concept of human work, allowing people to focus on areas requiring creativity and human interaction.

Microsoft 365 Copilot: An Innovative Leap

Microsoft presented the biggest update to Microsoft 365 Copilot, a tool that brings Chat, Search, Notebooks, Creation, and Agents together in an intuitive interface. The new platform offers functionalities beyond web data support, integrating information from the workplace and optimizing processes with features like the Researcher Agent and Analyst.

These features improve workflow efficiency and reinvent the way users interact with data and tools. The Copilot acts as a personal assistant, bringing information from various sources directly into the work environment. This allows users to access critical data without switching between applications.

A highlight is Copilot's ability to integrate and analyze data from multiple sources, synthesizing actionable insights for informed decisions. With the Researcher Agent, users can conduct searches that combine web data and internal information, providing detailed and contextualized answers.

The Analyst processes raw data from multiple files, generating insights, forecasts, and visualizations. This empowers teams to quickly turn large volumes of data into useful information.

The platform enables creating data collections through Notebooks, where conversations, pages, documents, and emails can be grouped. This facilitates understanding and collaborative decision-making.

With Microsoft 365 Copilot, the integration of agents like Researcher and Analyst automates tasks and expands innovation capacity within organizations, enabling employees to focus on strategic activities.

The platform is flexible to incorporate custom agents developed through Copilot Studio, allowing companies to tailor the tool to their needs. This customization ensures Copilot adapts to organizational processes, amplifying its impact.

Azure Foundry: The Platform for the AI Era

Azure Foundry was highlighted as a robust platform for building AI applications. Supporting more than 1.900 models, including the latest from OpenAI, the platform offers agent orchestration and data integration capabilities. Microsoft announced the launch of Grok 3 by xAI on Azure, demonstrating a commitment to providing the best infrastructure for developers.

Azure Foundry is an ecosystem that supports AI solution development. Agent orchestration allows developers to create multi-agent workflows, enabling agents to perform integrated tasks and share information efficiently.

The models offered are optimized for various use cases, from natural language processing to predictive analytics. This variety allows developers to choose the most suitable model for their needs.

The launch of Grok 3 on Azure brings models combining reasoning and response capabilities. With these tools, developers can create applications that answer queries and perform complex analyses.

The platform stands out for its integration capability with other tools and services within Azure, facilitating data management and large-scale solution deployment.

Azure Foundry is prepared for the future of AI, with a continuous commitment to enhance its capabilities. The platform is evolving to incorporate new technologies and methodologies, ensuring developers always have access to the most advanced tools.

Windows AI Foundry and MCP: Advances in Local Development

Windows AI Foundry was presented as a solution for developers seeking to create AI experiences directly on devices. Supporting various silicon models and MCP (Model Context Protocol) features, the platform facilitates creating secure apps directly on Windows, promoting hardware and software integration.

Autonomous Agents: A New Era of Automation

The conference highlighted the evolution of autonomous agents, capable of performing complex tasks independently. This automation is driven by an open development environment, allowing developers to create customized and scalable solutions. The integration of multiple agents in complex workflows was demonstrated through practical examples.

These agents use AI models to efficiently process and analyze data, enabling companies to automate repetitive tasks and optimize processes. This saves time and reduces errors, increasing overall productivity. The ability to operate independently and collaborate with other agents is essential for digital transformation.

A practical example was the use of agents for site reliability engineering, where they can automatically triage issues, diagnose root causes, and mitigate problems. This autonomy reduces the burden on IT teams, allowing them to focus on long-term strategies.

XMACNA is at the forefront of this revolution, offering intelligent automation that improves processes and service for businesses of all sizes. With its AI-based solutions, XMACNA empowers companies to integrate digital employees who interact with customers, process orders, and manage data efficiently, enhancing the customer experience.

Developers have the flexibility to use these technologies to build systems that meet their needs by integrating autonomous agents into their workflows. This is possible through platforms like Azure Foundry, which offers tools and support to implement and manage these agents.

With the evolution of autonomous agent technology, companies can expect a transformation in their responsiveness to market demands, operating more agilely. Intelligent automation facilitates task management and frees up resources for innovation.

The Power of the Agentic Web

The vision of the Agentic Web, presented by Kevin Scott, Microsoft's CTO, promises to transform how we interact with the web, fostering an open ecosystem. This approach enables developers to create agents that interact with different services and protocols, expanding innovation potential.

Global Educational Impact with Copilot

Beyond technological advances, Microsoft highlighted the social impact of its tools. The use of Copilot in educational programs in Nigeria and Peru showed positive results, reinforcing the transformative potential of technology in educational contexts. This initiative exemplifies Microsoft's commitment to democratizing access to education.

Opportunities for Developers

Satya Nadella closed the conference reaffirming Microsoft's commitment to creating opportunities for developers worldwide. With platforms like GitHub Copilot and Foundry, the company is empowering developers to transform their ideas, fostering an environment of innovation.

These platforms provide developers with a set of tools and resources that enable them to tackle programming and automation challenges. GitHub Copilot acts as a programming partner that provides real-time code suggestions, improving software development efficiency. Meanwhile, Azure Foundry offers infrastructure for building AI solutions at scale.

Microsoft is focused on fostering an open ecosystem where developers worldwide can share knowledge. This is facilitated by an active community and the availability of educational resources that help improve technical skills.

Microsoft's commitment to democratizing technology is reflected in its initiatives to make these tools accessible, promoting diversity in technology. This ensures developers from diverse backgrounds can contribute to technological innovation.

With the collaboration of XMACNA, which offers intelligent automation solutions, developers have more opportunities to create applications that anticipate future trends. The tools and platforms offered empower developers to implement rapidly, ensuring responsiveness to the technology sector's ever-changing demands.

Microsoft Build: Innovations and Connections

Microsoft Build is an annual conference aimed at developers, where Microsoft presents its latest technological and software innovations and updates. It is a crucial event that connects developers with the tools and platforms that will define the future of technology.

At the Build Conference, the team revealed many exciting updates for developers, starting with Visual Studio, which continues to be one of the most powerful IDEs for .NET and C++. Improvements include support for .NET 10, live preview, and a new debugger for cross-platform apps. These additions, combined with the shift to a monthly release cycle, promise to transform the development experience.

Advances in VS Code and GitHub

Recently, VS Code celebrated its 100th release, bringing improvements in multi-window support and ease of viewing stages directly in the editor. These updates allow developers to work more efficiently and organized, especially on complex projects requiring handling multiple windows and contexts simultaneously. The enhanced user experience reflects Microsoft's ongoing commitment to providing a robust and adaptable development environment.

Additionally, GitHub remains the home for developers, with GitHub Enterprise gaining market strength. Factors such as trust, security, compliance, and auditing are more critical than ever, especially in a landscape where data protection and privacy are top priorities. GitHub is constantly innovating to adapt to the growing demands of security and collaboration at enterprise scale.

The announcement that Github Copilot is now open source in VS Code marks a new era. It is becoming central to how we code, integrating AI-powered capabilities directly into the world’s most beloved open source repository. With Copilot, developers can automate repetitive tasks, get real-time code suggestions, and improve the overall quality of the software they produce. This is part of a larger movement to transform Copilot from a coding partner to a peer programmer, capable of autonomously handling bugs, new features, and code maintenance. This transformation is essential to increasing productivity and allowing developers to focus on more creative and strategic tasks.

With Copilot Tuning, companies can now fine-tune Copilot to align with their specific needs, customizing it to reflect the organization's coding style and preferences. This not only increases efficiency but also ensures AI solutions are aligned with business objectives and practices, enhancing collaboration and innovation within development teams.

Copilot Tuning: Customization for Companies

With the launch of Copilot Tuning, companies can now customize Copilot to match their unique tone and language. This is done by training the model with a small set of references and performing several training runs. Customized models inherit source control permissions and can be distributed to authorized users.

This customization capability is a natural extension of AI solutions for businesses, allowing Copilot to understand not only a company’s specific language but also its specialties and specific knowledge. For more insights on how AI is being used in businesses, see the article Digital Transformation: AI Revolutionizing Sales.

OpenAI and Grok Models 3.5

With over 1.900 models supported by Foundry, selecting the right model can be a challenging task. The diversity of models ranges from response and reasoning models to task-specific ones, each designed to meet different development needs and contexts. To simplify this complex process, a new model router has been introduced that automatically chooses the best OpenAI model for the task. This approach removes the need for manual model selections, reduces errors, and ensures developers use the most effective AI for their applications, making development more efficient and accurate.

Additionally, XAI's Grok 3.5 is coming to Azure, standing out for its application of physics tools in various lines of reasoning. This model seeks truth with minimal error, a crucial characteristic for developing safe and trustworthy AI. Minimizing prediction and reasoning errors is critical to ensuring not only accuracy but also operational safety of AI solutions. This is vital for AI safety, as emphasized by Elon Musk in his brief appearance at the conference. He highlighted the importance of honesty and transparency in AI models, reinforcing that the pursuit of truth with recognition and minimization of errors is fundamental to responsible and safe artificial intelligence development.

Integration with Cosmos DB and New Services

Cosmos DB is now directly integrated with Foundry, allowing any agent to store and retrieve conversation history. Together with SQL in Fabric, this enables AI applications to handle structured and semi-structured data such as text, images, and audio. This integration unifies the data environment and prepares it for artificial intelligence.

For use cases requiring extremely low latency and precise control over where and how your applications and data are stored, Azure offers Azure Local. This solution is ideal for disconnected or on-premises operations.

Microsoft Discovery: Scientific Innovation

The launch of Microsoft Discovery is an ambitious step toward scientific innovation. This service, built on Foundry, is equipped with advanced agents highly specialized in Research & Development. They not only reason but also conduct research themselves, accelerating the creation of new materials, compounds, and molecules.

For those interested in scientific advances, Microsoft Discovery is already showing promising results. One of the most promising candidates for immersion coolants without PFAS has been synthesized, highlighting the platform’s practicality and effectiveness.

Commitment to Openness and Standards

At the conference, the commitment to openness and standardization was reiterated, illustrated by the decision to make WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) completely open source. This is a significant move that not only leverages collaboration among developers but also drives innovation, allowing the community to contribute directly to the system’s improvement and evolution. With WSL open source, developers have the freedom to modify, customize, and optimize the system to meet specific needs, providing a more flexible and adaptable development environment.

Additionally, the integration of Cosmos DB with Foundry and the availability of the Agent Service reinforce this standardization strategy. Cosmos DB, known for its capability to provide ultra-low latency and high availability, can now be used more integratively with Foundry services. This facilitates the development of applications requiring robust and efficient data management while supporting multi-model configurations to meet diverse business demands. The Agent Service, in turn, offers a unified platform to create and manage agents, enabling developers to easily integrate multiple AI services and models consistently and scalably.

To explore how openness can transform development, check out the article Nobel to the Machine: The Year Science Surrendered to the Inevitable.

The Future of AI and Development

With all these innovations, it’s clear that we are at an inflection point. The integration of AI into coding and the ability to customize tools like Copilot represent just the beginning of what will be possible in the coming years. Companies adopting these technologies will have a significant competitive advantage.

Conclusion: Global Impact of Microsoft Build

This year’s Microsoft Build highlighted innovations that not only transform the development world but also shape the future of technology globally. Updates to VS Code and the opening of GitHub Copilot democratize access to powerful tools, enabling developers of all levels to create more efficient and creative solutions. Integration with Cosmos DB and the launch of Microsoft Discovery demonstrate a steadfast commitment to science and research, accelerating discoveries that could revolutionize entire industries. By adopting an open and standardized approach, Microsoft not only strengthens the developer community but also encourages ongoing collaboration and innovation. These advances are key to tackling today’s technological challenges and creating a more connected and intelligent world. With these tools, developers have unlimited possibilities to innovate and transform how we live and work.