Microsoft is heading to San Francisco this week to win over developers at its Build conference. I’ve been attending Build since the days when Microsoft called it the Professional Developers Conference, and I can’t remember a more significant moment. As Microsoft continues to restructure its entire business around AI, it’s moving Build into a smaller, more intimate space. Reliance on Windows and GitHub is at an all-time low, and this is Microsoft’s chance to reconnect with developers and define the future.
Sources tell me we’ll hear about new AI models in Windows, a new thinking model from Microsoft AI, and a “super app” for Copilot. But perhaps most importantly for Build attendees, I understand that Microsoft will reveal more about its work to improve the Windows experience for developers. I’m told that Microsoft will introduce a new Windows 11 enhanced developer experience this week, which includes many of the things developers have been asking for in Windows: a distraction-free environment with pre-installed apps, tools, and scripts.
I also expect to hear more about Microsoft’s efforts to rewrite parts of Windows 11 to improve performance and overall experience. Microsoft outlined its Windows 11 maintenance schedule earlier this year, and we’ve begun to see many early improvements. The Windows Insider team is preparing to show off more customization changes later today, ahead of the Build keynote tomorrow.
Microsoft will also have more news about how Windows adapts to new silicon like Nvidia’s RTX Spark. I’m told there will be a lot of focus on on-premises models that run on Windows at Build this year, allowing developers to get into local computing instead of relying on expensive cloud models. Windows CEO Pavan Davuluri teased last week that “something new is coming to developers” at Build, so I expect to hear more about the next generation of Microsoft’s AI mini-models. Miniature RTX Spark PCs from Microsoft and HP were also absent from the list of OEMs during Nvidia’s Computex keynote, so perhaps there are a few more on the way.
While Satya Nadella will discuss the new RTX Spark announcement with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang during his keynote speech, I also expect that we will hear from Qualcomm about its ongoing work with Microsoft to expand Windows on Arm. Qualcomm and Microsoft laid much of the foundation for the development of Arm Windows 11, allowing Nvidia to return to Windows on Arm after a strong start with the Surface RT. Microsoft now has to balance the two major suppliers of Arm silicon, like how it had to keep AMD and Intel happy decades ago.
Sources tell me we’ll also hear about the latest in Microsoft’s internal Build models this week. I’m told that Microsoft AI chief Mustafa Suleyman will present the new MAI-Thinking-1 model at Build, the company’s first thinking model. Microsoft didn’t use distillation to create its reasoning model, meaning it wasn’t trained by learning from the results of another AI model. I expect this thinking model to be mainly targeted at business applications.
The image model is one of several new models I expect to hear from Build, including MAI-Image-2.5 and MAI-Image-2.5-Flash. Suleyman teased the release of MAI-Image-2.5 last week, promising more from Build.
Microsoft will also discuss its upcoming Copilot “major app” at Build. Good luck it was first reported this past week, and it’s actually an app that combines Microsoft’s various Copilot AI assistants into a single interface. Sources tell me that work is underway to build the app, but the leaked screenshot that surfaced on Friday is simply an image prepared for Microsoft’s Build shows.
The image also includes an early look at Microsoft Scout, which is reportedly a new AI agent based on Microsoft’s OpenClaw project. This excellent Copilot app won’t be available at Build even though Microsoft is in the process of creating it, so I wouldn’t expect to see it in preview until late summer.
I also hope we’ll hear more about GitHub’s development in Build this week. I wrote last month that GitHub is facing a fight for its survival from Microsoft, after a wave of departures, exits, and security incidents. Microsoft desperately needs to restore GitHub’s trust here, especially as high-level developers are starting to cry. There’s no easy quick fix, but given that Build is run by another GitHub team, Microsoft can’t ignore the problems it’s facing here.
We’ll be covering all the news from Microsoft Build this week, so stay tuned for more news when the conference starts at 9:30AM PT / 12:30PM ET on Tuesday June 2nd.
