Microsoft Build 2025 ushered in the age of AI agents. This year’s announcements signaled a paradigm shift; not just in how developers build applications, but in how intelligent systems will operate across organizations, users, and the internet itself. At the heart of this transformation lies Microsoft’s bold vision for an open agentic web – an internet where AI agents can intelligently and securely interact with data, services, and one another.
From innovations in Azure AI Foundry to expanded support for open standards like the Model Context Protocol (MCP), Microsoft is laying the groundwork for a future where AI agents aren’t just embedded in applications; they become the key driver of interaction and intelligence.
AI agents and the open agentic web
AI agents represent the next leap in intelligent computing. Unlike traditional bots or assistants, agents can perceive context, reason, and act independently to complete complex tasks. They can schedule meetings, analyze documents, surface customer insights, or even orchestrate workflows across departments, all while continuously learning and improving.
At Build 2025, Microsoft unveiled foundational work toward enabling an open agentic web. This vision promotes a decentralized ecosystem in which AI agents built by different organizations, using various platforms and models, can interoperate seamlessly.
Key to this effort is Microsoft’s support for the Model Context Protocol (MCP), a shared standard that enables AI agents to securely access and act upon external data and services. Microsoft is not just implementing MCP across products like GitHub Copilot, Copilot Studio, Dynamics 365, and Azure AI Foundry, it has also joined the MCP Steering Committee to help evolve the protocol.
Additionally, Microsoft introduced NLWeb, an open framework akin to HTML, but for AI agents. NLWeb allows websites to expose natural language interfaces to agents, making their content discoverable and actionable in new ways. By enabling agent-friendly web architecture, Microsoft is championing a future where users can interact with the internet through intelligent, conversational agents instead of traditional clicks and forms.
Azure AI Foundry: The factory for AI agents
Powering this agentic future is Azure AI Foundry—Microsoft’s unified platform for building, managing, and deploying AI models and agents. At Build, several powerful upgrades were announced that elevate Azure AI Foundry into a full-stack solution for enterprise-grade agent orchestration.
Model ecosystem expansion
Azure AI Foundry now hosts over 1,900 AI models from Microsoft and partners. This includes the addition of cutting-edge models like xAI’s Grok 3 and Grok 3 Mini, as well as upcoming releases like Flux Pro 1.1 and Sora. Developers can now access these models through a single platform to fine-tune, deploy, and integrate them into applications.
To streamline this process, Microsoft introduced a Model Leaderboard for comparing model performance across categories and use cases, and a Model Router that dynamically selects the optimal model for any given query in real time.
Agent-oriented architecture
One of the most transformative updates is the general availability of Azure AI Foundry Agent Service. This tool allows developers to create, coordinate, and govern fleets of specialized AI agents that can collaborate on sophisticated tasks. Agents built through the Foundry can communicate using open protocols like MCP and Agent-to-Agent (A2A), allowing them to function as modular components in large, distributed digital workforces.
Importantly, these capabilities are backed by built-in observability and governance. Azure AI Foundry provides tools to track agent performance, safety, cost, and compliance. Enterprises can manage agent identity using Microsoft Entra Agent ID, automatically assigning each agent a unique identity in the organization’s directory to avoid agent sprawl and security risks.
Connecting AI to data: Azure Fabric, Cosmos DB, and Databricks
AI agents are only as powerful as the data they can access. Microsoft is extending Azure’s capabilities to unify structured and unstructured data, enabling agents to act on real-time insights with minimal friction.
A key announcement was the integration of Azure Cosmos DB (NoSQL) into Microsoft Fabric, allowing developers to incorporate globally scalable, operational data directly into Fabric’s unified analytics environment. This enables AI agents to draw from both real-time and warehoused data, streamlining everything from personalization to operational optimization.
Additionally, a new Azure Databricks connector for AI Foundry (in preview) allows agents to access Spark jobs and datasets directly, enhancing their ability to perform live analytics and support data-intensive workloads.
These integrations reflect a broader strategy: breaking down data silos to support intelligent decision-making at scale. Whether tapping into live telemetry or long-term data lakes, Azure is evolving into a seamlessly connected data foundation for AI.
Bringing the agentic vision to life
What makes this all more than just tech jargon is how it’s already being applied in the real world. Companies like Fujitsu and NTT DATA are leveraging Azure AI Foundry to prioritize leads and automate proposal workflows. Stanford Health Care is testing AI agents that can reduce administrative overhead in oncology preparation, potentially transforming clinical productivity.
Meanwhile, Microsoft 365 Copilot and GitHub Copilot continue to serve as prime examples of agent-enabled productivity. Microsoft reported that over 230,000 organizations, including 90% of the Fortune 500, have used Copilot Studio to build custom agents tailored to their unique workflows and data. Developers, too, are increasingly empowered, with over 15 million using GitHub Copilot to code, debug, and deploy faster.
These examples aren’t isolated, they’re a glimpse into the near future of work, where agents serve as intelligent co-pilots for every role, department, and function.
A developer-first future
For developers, the implications of Build 2025 are profound. Microsoft is not only providing the tools but actively removing barriers to AI agent adoption.
From the Windows AI Foundry a new platform supporting AI development from training to inference on both local and cloud infrastructure to the open-sourcing of GitHub Copilot Chat for Visual Studio Code, the commitment to accessibility and innovation is clear.
Tools like Semantic Kernel and AutoGen have also been unified in Azure’s SDK to simplify agent orchestration. Developers can now harness state-of-the-art models, build custom logic, and deploy across secure, scalable infrastructure all without needing to become AI experts.
Looking ahead
Microsoft’s announcements at Build 2025 aren’t just about enhancing AI capabilities, they’re about reimagining how we interact with software, data, and even the web itself. The move toward an open agentic web and enterprise-grade AI agents positions Microsoft’s ecosystem—Azure, GitHub, Windows, Microsoft 365—as the foundation for a new era of software.
We are entering a world where agents act not just as tools but as collaborators. And thanks to platforms like Azure AI Foundry, that world is no longer theoretical, it’s being built today.
