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Microsoft Build 2025 showcased how Microsoft is reimagining the software program growth lifecycle with highly effective new capabilities that redefine what’s doable with AI.
From streamlining enterprise workflows to accelerating scientific discovery, AI brokers are remodeling how builders construct and the way companies function.
- 15 million builders are utilizing GitHub Copilot, utilizing options like agent mode and code evaluation to deal with repetitive duties, permitting them to concentrate on the enjoyable, inventive components of software program growth.
- Hundreds of 1000’s of consumers are utilizing Microsoft 365 Copilot to help with analysis, brainstorming, and resolution growth, permitting elevated for effectivity.
- More than 230,000 organizations—together with 90% of the Fortune 500—have used Microsoft Copilot Studio to construct AI brokers and automations to enhance productiveness and scale enterprise rapidly.
- More than 11,000 AI fashions are actually obtainable via Azure AI Foundry, together with Microsoft-hosted and partner-hosted fashions. This in depth library of AI fashions gives unparalleled assets for organizations to innovate and scale their AI-powered options.
In this version of FYAI, a sequence the place we dive deep on AI traits with Microsoft leaders, we hear from Yina Arenas, Vice President of Product, Azure AI Foundry, who’s main the work at Microsoft to empower each developer to form the longer term with generative AI utilizing breakthrough fashions and enterprise AI brokers.
In this Q&A, Yina shares her insights on the shifting AI panorama, together with why companies are getting caught within the “proof of concept” part and the way Azure AI Foundry can meet organizations the place they’re and take their AI tasks to the following stage.
What shifts within the AI panorama are you seeing which are essentially altering how individuals—and organizations—construct and scale AI?
We’re seeing a profound shift from AI as a analysis experiment to AI as a core enterprise functionality. What’s thrilling—and difficult—is that organizations are now not simply asking, “Can we build this?” however “How do we build this responsibly, at scale, and with real impact?” That shift requires new instruments, new mindsets, and new methods of working throughout groups. At Microsoft, we’re centered on making AI extra accessible and inclusive—so that everybody, from builders to area consultants, can contribute to constructing options that matter. It’s not simply concerning the tech—it’s about empowering individuals to resolve actual issues with AI.
Why is it nonetheless so laborious for companies to maneuver from experimentation to manufacturing with AI—and what wants to alter to unlock that subsequent wave of worth?
Azure AI Foundry is supporting open Agent2Agent (A2A) protocol
Many organizations get caught within the “proof of concept” part as a result of the leap to manufacturing is advanced. It’s not nearly deciding on the suitable mannequin—it’s about integrating it into methods, making certain it’s safe and accountable, and aligning it with enterprise objectives. What’s lacking is a cohesive, end-to-end method that brings collectively the suitable instruments, governance, and collaboration in a developer-friendly setting. That’s the place Azure AI Foundry is available in—it’s designed to assist groups not solely transfer sooner however accomplish that thoughtfully by offering a cohesive end-to-end platform and providing traceability throughout prompts, fashions, and runtime conduct. We’re making it simpler and fewer advanced for builders to construct apps whereas additionally giving enterprise choice makers the flexibility to see how these apps carry out, measure their ROI, and meet compliance necessities. To unlock the following wave of worth, we have to make AI growth extra collaborative, clear, and outcome-driven.
How does Azure AI Foundry assist bridge that hole—and the way is it totally different from different approaches on the market?
Azure AI Foundry is constructed to fulfill organizations the place they’re—whether or not they’re simply beginning or scaling AI throughout the enterprise. It brings collectively the perfect of Microsoft’s AI capabilities from foundational fashions to orchestration and monitoring in a unified platform. What units Azure AI Foundry aside shouldn’t be solely that it’s constructed on many years of world-class analysis however that it’s constructed with people on the heart, so whether or not you’re an information scientist, product supervisor, engineer, or enterprise chief, our AI options be just right for you. It additionally bakes in accountable AI from the beginning by integrating instruments, from testing to monitoring to governance, that help the whole life cycle.
Who is Azure AI Foundry constructed for, and the way does it help cross-functional groups—from information scientists to decision-makers—to construct collectively?
Azure AI Foundry is designed for anybody seeking to take their AI tasks to the following stage—whether or not you’re a part of a giant enterprise, a startup, or a software program growth firm. It provides entry to the main frontier fashions, integrates orchestration frameworks, helps open protocols for multi-agent collaboration, and gives native observability tooling—all inside a safe, ruled setting. Whether it’s optimizing name facilities, analyzing information, bettering product searches, or automating workflows, Azure AI Foundry pulls all the things—fashions, instruments, and brokers—into one user-friendly platform. With instruments like GitHub, Visual Studio, and Copilot Studio, Azure AI Foundry makes it simple for builders, information scientists, IT professionals, and decision-makers to shorten the journey from concept to manufacturing.
Where are you seeing Azure AI Foundry already making an affect—and what sorts of transformation are prospects unlocking?
As the central hub for constructing, orchestrating, and managing AI options, Azure AI Foundry stays the centerpiece of our AI platform technique. It is now utilized by builders at greater than 70,000 enterprises and software program growth corporations—together with Atomicwork, Epic, Fujitsu, Gainsight, H&R Block, and LG Electronics—to design, customise, and handle their AI apps and brokers. And simply six months in, greater than 10,000 organizations have used Azure AI Foundry Agent Service to construct, deploy, and scale their brokers. Developers are designing brokers that act, motive, take initiative, and ship measurable enterprise outcomes.
Heineken, for instance, used Azure AI Foundry to construct a multi-agent platform known as “Hoppy” that helps workers entry information and instruments throughout the corporate of their native language. Their implementation has already saved 1000’s of hours, decreasing duties that after took 20 minutes to simply 20 seconds.
Fujitsu evaluated Azure AI Foundry Agent Service to automate gross sales proposal creation. This boosted productiveness by 67%, letting their groups to concentrate on buyer engagement. The AI agent integrates with current Microsoft instruments acquainted to round 38,000 workers, retrieves dispersed information, and lays the muse for broader AI-powered innovation.
Draftwise, a digital native providing an AI-powered contract drafting and evaluation platform, is utilizing innovative fashions in Azure AI Foundry (Cohere multimodal and AOAI reasoning) to assist streamline the contract drafting course of by integrating with a lawyer’s doc storage system.
What excites you most about what’s subsequent—for Azure AI Foundry, and for the way individuals can reimagine the way in which they work and create with AI?
What excites me most about what’s subsequent for Azure AI Foundry is the way it’s unlocking a brand new period of creativity and empowerment—not only for builders, however for everybody. We’re shifting past the thought of AI as a software you employ to AI as a copilot you construct with. Azure AI Foundry helps individuals think about and create brokers that perceive their objectives, adapt to their workflows, and evolve with their wants.
That shift—from writing code to orchestrating intelligence—is profound. It implies that a product supervisor, a marketer, or a frontline employee can form how AI works for them, while not having to be a machine studying professional. It’s about placing the ability of AI into the palms of the various, not the few.
And what’s most inspiring is that we’re simply getting began. The brokers persons are constructing at this time are fixing actual issues—automating advanced processes, accelerating insights, and liberating up time for extra significant work. But the brokers of tomorrow? They’ll be collaborators in creativity, companions in problem-solving, and catalysts for innovation we haven’t even dreamed of but.
That’s the longer term I see—and it’s being constructed proper now, by people who find themselves reimagining what’s doable with AI.
Design, customise, and handle AI apps and brokers at scale
Through leaders like Yina Arenas, Microsoft’s imaginative and prescient for the way forward for AI is each inspiring and deeply human-centered. With platforms like Azure AI Foundry, we’re coming into a brand new period the place AI turns into not only a software, however a real collaborator—empowering everybody, no matter technical experience, to innovate and resolve real-world issues. With Azure AI Foundry, the potential of AI is being unlocked by builders in all places, sparking a wave of transformation and boundless potentialities.
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