Microsoft to unveil new AI models and Windows improvements at Build

Microsoft is heading to San Francisco this week in a bid to win back 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 pivotal moment. As Microsoft continues to reshuffle its entire business around AI, it’s moving Build into a smaller, more intimate venue. Trust in Windows and GitHub is at an all-time low, and this is Microsoft’s chance to reconnect with developers and outline the future.

Sources tell me that we’ll hear about new AI models in Windows, a new reasoning model from Microsoft AI, and a Copilot “super app.” But perhaps more importantly for Build attendees, I understand that Microsoft will be revealing more about its work on improving the experience of Windows for developers. I’m told that Microsoft will unveil a new Windows 11 developer optimized experience this week, which includes many of the things that 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 the overall experience. Microsoft outlined its plan to fix Windows 11 earlier this year, and we’ve started to see plenty of early improvements already. The Windows Insider team is getting ready to show off more customization changes later today, ahead of the Build keynote tomorrow.

Microsoft will also have more news about how Windows is adapting to new silicon like Nvidia’s RTX Spark. I’m told there will be a bigger focus on local models running on Windows at Build this year, allowing developers to tap into local compute instead of relying on costly cloud models. Windows chief Pavan Davuluri teased last week that “something new is coming for developers” at Build, so I’m expecting to hear more about the next generation of Microsoft’s smaller AI models. Miniature RTX Spark PCs from Microsoft and HP were also notably absent in a lineup of OEMs during Nvidia’s Computex keynote, so perhaps a little something more is on the way.

While Satya Nadella will discuss the new RTX Spark announcement with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang during his keynote, I’m also expecting we’ll hear from Qualcomm about its continued work with Microsoft to grow Windows on Arm. Qualcomm and Microsoft laid most of the groundwork for the Arm improvements in Windows 11, allowing Nvidia to return to Windows on Arm after a rocky start with the Surface RT. Microsoft now has to balance two major Arm silicon providers, just like how it’s had to keep both AMD and Intel happy over the decades.

Sources tell me we’re also going to be hearing about the very latest on Microsoft’s own in-house models at Build this week. I’m told Microsoft AI chief Mustafa Suleyman will unveil a new MAI-Thinking-1 model at Build, the company’s first reasoning model. Microsoft hasn’t used distillation to create its reasoning model, meaning it wasn’t trained by learning from another AI model’s outputs. I’m expecting this reasoning model to be targeted primarily at enterprise use.

The reasoning model is one of several new models I’m expecting to hear about at Build, including MAI-Image-2.5 and MAI-Image-2.5-Flash. Suleyman teased the MAI-Image-2.5 release last week, promising more at Build.

Microsoft will also discuss its upcoming Copilot “super app” at Build. Fortune first reported on this last week, and it’s essentially an app that combines Microsoft’s various Copilot AI assistants into a single interface. Sources tell me work is underway to build the app, but that the leaked screenshot that appeared on Friday is simply a mockup prepared for Microsoft’s Build demonstrations.

The image also includes an early look at Microsoft Scout, which is reportedly a new AI agent based on Microsoft’s OpenClaw work. This Copilot super app won’t be available at Build though as Microsoft is still in the process of creating it, so I wouldn’t expect to see it in preview until late summer.

I’m also hoping we’ll hear a lot more about improvements to GitHub at Build this week. I wrote last month that GitHub is facing a fight for its survival at Microsoft, after a wave of departures, outages, and security incidents. Microsoft desperately needs to win back GitHub trust here, particularly as high-profile developers are starting to sound the alarm. There’s no easy quick fix, but given that Build is being driven by some of the GitHub team, Microsoft can’t ignore the issues it faces here.

We’ll be covering all the news from Microsoft Build this week, so stay tuned for plenty of coverage when the conference kicks off at 9:30AM PT / 12:30PM ET on Tuesday June 2nd.