Microsoft Build 2026: Copilot evolves into async coworker agents

Microsoft Build 2026 kicked off in San Francisco with CEO Satya Nadella's keynote, placing Copilot AI front and center. Nadella announced that Copilot is evolving from a simple chatbot into "async coworkers" — agents that can handle long-running, autonomous tasks across key domains. This shift aligns with Microsoft's broader strategy to embed AI deeply into its ecosystem, including Windows, Office, and Azure. The conference also featured hardware news from Nvidia, which unveiled the RTX Spark — a new Arm-based system-on-a-chip platform for Windows PCs. Built specifically for on-device AI inference, the RTX Spark powers laptops from Microsoft, Dell, Asus, HP, Lenovo, and MSI, expected to ship this fall. Jensen Huang described it as "reinventing the personal computer" for agent-based workloads.

The event comes on the heels of Google I/O, where Google announced Gemini 3.5 Flash and Gemini Spark, doubling down on agentic AI. Microsoft's Build announcements are seen as a direct response, aiming to match or surpass Google's capabilities. Meanwhile, Apple's WWDC 2026 is next week — likely Tim Cook's last as CEO — and Apple Intelligence has yet to make a significant impact. Microsoft's aggressive push with Copilot agents and RTX Spark hardware positions it as a leader in the AI assistant race, potentially reshaping how millions of professionals interact with their tools. Developers attending Build will gain early access to new APIs and SDKs for building custom Copilot agents, further expanding the ecosystem.