Microsoft Construct 2025 showcased how Microsoft is reimagining the software program improvement 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 evaluate to deal with repetitive duties, permitting them to deal with the enjoyable, inventive components of software program improvement.
- A whole lot of 1000’s of consumers are utilizing Microsoft 365 Copilot to help with analysis, brainstorming, and answer improvement, permitting elevated for effectivity.
- Greater 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 shortly.
- Greater than 11,000 AI fashions are actually obtainable by Azure AI Foundry, together with Microsoft-hosted and partner-hosted fashions. This in depth library of AI fashions gives unparalleled sources for organizations to innovate and scale their AI-powered options.
On 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 long run with generative AI utilizing breakthrough fashions and enterprise AI brokers.
On this Q&A, Yina shares her insights on the shifting AI panorama, together with why companies are getting caught within the “proof of idea” section 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 can be basically altering how folks—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 construct this?” however “How will we construct this responsibly, at scale, and with actual influence?” That shift requires new instruments, new mindsets, and new methods of working throughout groups. At Microsoft, we’re targeted 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 in regards to the tech—it’s about empowering folks to resolve actual issues with AI.
Why is it nonetheless so onerous 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 idea” section as a result of the leap to manufacturing is complicated. It’s not nearly deciding on the appropriate mannequin—it’s about integrating it into programs, guaranteeing it’s safe and accountable, and aligning it with enterprise targets. What’s lacking is a cohesive, end-to-end method that brings collectively the appropriate instruments, governance, and collaboration in a developer-friendly atmosphere. 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 habits. We’re making it simpler and fewer complicated for builders to construct apps whereas additionally giving enterprise choice makers the power 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 improvement extra collaborative, clear, and outcome-driven.
How does Azure AI Foundry assist bridge that hole—and the way is it completely different from different approaches on the market?
Azure AI Foundry is constructed to satisfy organizations the place they’re—whether or not they’re simply beginning or scaling AI throughout the enterprise. It brings collectively the most effective of Microsoft’s AI capabilities from foundational fashions to orchestration and monitoring in a unified platform. What units Azure AI Foundry aside will not be solely that it’s constructed on many years of world-class analysis however that it’s constructed with people on the middle, so whether or not you’re a knowledge 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 assist all the life cycle.
Who’s Azure AI Foundry constructed for, and the way does it assist cross-functional groups—from knowledge scientists to decision-makers—to construct collectively?
Azure AI Foundry is designed for anybody trying to take their AI tasks to the following stage—whether or not you’re a part of an enormous enterprise, a startup, or a software program improvement 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 atmosphere. Whether or not it’s optimizing name facilities, analyzing knowledge, enhancing product searches, or automating workflows, Azure AI Foundry pulls every thing—fashions, instruments, and brokers—into one user-friendly platform. With instruments like GitHub, Visible Studio, and Copilot Studio, Azure AI Foundry makes it simple for builders, knowledge scientists, IT professionals, and decision-makers to shorten the journey from thought to manufacturing.
The place are you seeing Azure AI Foundry already making an influence—and what sorts of transformation are prospects unlocking?
Because the central hub for constructing, orchestrating, and managing AI options, Azure AI Foundry stays the centerpiece of our AI platform technique. It’s now utilized by builders at greater than 70,000 enterprises and software program improvement 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. Builders are designing brokers that act, purpose, take initiative, and ship measurable enterprise outcomes.
Heineken, for instance, used Azure AI Foundry to construct a multi-agent platform referred to as “Hoppy” that helps staff entry knowledge 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 deal with buyer engagement. The AI agent integrates with current Microsoft instruments acquainted to round 38,000 staff, retrieves dispersed information, and lays the inspiration for broader AI-powered innovation.
Draftwise, a digital native providing an AI-powered contract drafting and evaluate 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 folks 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 concept of AI as a instrument you utilize to AI as a copilot you construct with. Azure AI Foundry helps folks think about and create brokers that perceive their targets, 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 skilled. It’s about placing the facility of AI into the arms of the various, not the few.
And what’s most inspiring is that we’re simply getting began. The brokers individuals are constructing at the moment are fixing actual issues—automating complicated processes, accelerating insights, and releasing up time for extra significant work. However 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 long run 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
Via 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 instrument, however a real collaborator—empowering everybody, no matter technical experience, to innovate and remedy 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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