Microsoft is doubling down on Thailand’s AI future with a major strategic push. The plan includes local cloud and AI infrastructure, digital literacy programs and a new national AI innovation center — partnering with several other companies to deliver high-performance services and drive innovation nationwide.

Microsoft is unlocking a legend: Zork I–III are going open source! The text-based adventure game through the ruins of the Great Underground Empire asked players to type text commands to navigate, solve puzzles and collect treasures. Powered by the Z-Machine, Zork became a cross platform pioneer. Now, students, teachers and devs can peek under the hood to learn and play the code that built worlds with nothing but words.

The Xbox full-screen experience is now live on Windows 11 handhelds, delivering faster, console-like gameplay with direct boot into Xbox. It’s also in preview for PCs — laptops, desktops and tablets — offering a controller-first user experience, easy game browsing across libraries and quick app switching for a seamless gaming experience.

Microsoft Copilot Studio is the backbone of agentic business transformation — turning AI into real impact. It helps organizations automate workflows, build single-purpose or multi-agent solutions and scale securely. With new features for makers, admins and everyday users, Copilot Studio can help increase productivity, governance and even ROI — delivering speed-to-value without sacrificing control.

AI search is rewriting the rules of discovery. Instead of endless hyperlinks, users get instant, conversational answers that shape their decisions. Visibility — through impressions, citations and structured content — now drives influence before the audience ever clicks in. For advertisers and content owners this might mean fewer visits but higher intent. Conversions are stronger, even as journeys are shorter. In the AI era, clarity and presence matter more than volume. Find out how this can impact the content you create.

While we could all spend hours doomscrolling on our phones, playing video games can take that screen time and turn it into meaning. At least, that’s what a new survey of 1,500 U.S. gamers shows. They report finding meaning, connection and self-expression in gaming, saying it’s time well spent and one of the most fulfilling and socially connected experiences today.

Move on from chatbots, there’s a better way of working with AI, says Mainfunc co-founder Eric Jing. His Genspark super agents can be prompted directly, in natural language, to edit videos, create slides, even make restaurant reservations. And now, these agents can be discovered and managed with Microsoft Agent 365, the control plane for digital assistants.

AI is in the process of fundamentally changing how we work and solve problems. But it’s not just an add on; using AI responsibly means thinking through how it can be used most effectively at every layer. As Microsoft kicks off the annual Ignite conference today, the company is showcasing tools like Copilot, Work IQ, Fabric IQ and Agent Factory — all of which can help take organizations to the forefront of AI. Watch the keynotes and check out all the news, photos and video on the Ignite news site.

Today Microsoft, NVIDIA and Anthropic announced new strategic partnerships. Anthropic is scaling its rapidly growing Claude AI model on Microsoft Azure, powered by NVIDIA, which will broaden access to Claude and provide Azure enterprise customers with expanded model choice and new capabilities. Anthropic has committed to purchase $30 billion of Azure compute capacity and to contract additional compute capacity up to one gigawatt. Read more on the Official Microsoft Blog.

Microsoft and Levi Strauss & Co. are working together to bring AI and cloud tools into retail operations. LS&Co. is using Microsoft 365 Copilot, Azure AI Foundry and agentic AI to improve workflows and customer experiences. A new Teams-based orchestrator agent connects employees with multiple behind-the-scenes agents through one simple interface.

Large language models can code like pros but also raise security risks. Enter BlueCodeAgent: a smart defense that learns from testing, applies principled rules and hunts down sneaky risks. The result is safer code, fewer false alarms and a 12.7% boost in catching trouble before it strikes.

Microsoft’s annual Ignite conference kicks off at 8 a.m. PT Tuesday in San Francisco. The event, held for developers, IT professionals and partners, will feature keynotes from Microsoft leaders and big news announcements in the era of AI. For those who can’t join in person, you can watch the live stream and keep up with the announcements on our Ignite 2025 website.

Around the world, the dangers of extreme weather are a daily reality. In 2024, extreme weather displaced or disrupted the lives of more than 800,000 people worldwide — a reminder that accurate, timely forecasts aren’t just about data; they’re about people.

Microsoft’s AI foundation model Aurora pushes past traditional forecasting to predict hurricanes, air quality, ocean waves and more with greater accuracy. Trained on vast amounts of diverse data, it’s tuned to model the Earth system, not just the atmosphere. Going forward, Aurora is entering its next phase through research partnerships and will remain open-source.

“Vibe coding” is making app creation possible for anyone who can describe an idea, not just professional developers. As conversational AI tools democratize tech and speed innovation, experts say it’s important to balance creativity with thoughtful structure. Learn more about how AI is helping everyone from business professionals to experienced developers solve problems, save time and be more creative.

Around 2.5 million Brazilians have taken advantage of the chance to learn how to use AI through a new Microsoft initiative, announced in September 2024, called ConectAI. Working in collaboration with the Brazilian government, ConectAI aims to help skill 5 million Brazilians to use AI by the end of 2027 through free online courses covering everything from AI fluency and digital literacy to more advanced technical skills.

Minecraft Education and Code.org’s Hour of AI turns coding into an epic quest. In “The First Night,” students use MakeCode and Python programming to teach a blocky Agent to recognize patterns, classify resources and coordinate mini-agent helpers – all while battling zombies. It’s coding meets adventure, with AI as your ultimate sidekick.

Microsoft is giving teens a voice in shaping AI’s future with the new AI Futures Youth Council. Alongside this, fresh research shows teens want transparency on how their data is used, worry about being excluded if they can’t verify their age and have mixed feelings about companies using biometric and behavioral data.

U.S. farms are vital to the nation’s food supply, but rising production costs, falling crop prices and declining farmable land are squeezing margins across operations of all size. Now, Land O’Lakes and Microsoft are teaming up to build AI tools like Oz, a digital assistant that will use Land O’Lakes data to help farmers optimize operations, boost yields and reduce risk.

Microsoft has flipped the switch on a new class of AI datacenter – one that doesn’t stand alone but joins a dedicated network of sites functioning as an AI superfactory to train bigger AI models faster.

Generative AI powers apps and tools that help millions of people get things done faster and smarter, but it doesn’t serve everyone equally. Communities that aren’t well represented online often get left behind because most AI models learn from internet data. That means performance drops in many languages and cultural contexts, as well as in places where less-developed infrastructure makes access harder.

Project Gecko, led by Microsoft Research, aims to close those gaps so everyone — from farmers in Kenya to rural housewives in India — can tap into affordable, adaptable AI. These tailorable systems deliver vital expertise in local languages, with culturally relevant content and multiple modes including text, voice and video. Learn more on the Microsoft Research Blog.

Nearly 70% of companies are using AI in some way these days, but the real difference lies in how they’re using it. In a new Microsoft-commissioned IDC study, researchers found that companies at the front of the pack are adopting advanced tools to transform operations and drive growth. Read on to see how these leaders use AI to boost productivity, innovate faster and set new industry standards.

For years, conservationists have hiked deep into the forest to change batteries and collect important data. Now, with help from Microsoft’s SPARROW project, researchers can use a solar powered AI computing system to monitor biodiversity in remote areas. Watch Juan M. Lavista Ferres, corporate vice president and chief data scientist of the AI for Good Lab at Microsoft, give a TED Talk on the project.

Microsoft’s Secure Future Initiative is reshaping cybersecurity. The latest report shows steady gains across engineering pillars, new tools to protect customers and internal systems and stronger defenses against evolving threats. The goal is clear: accelerate innovation, enhance resilience and lead the industry toward a safer digital future

We’re in the middle of an AI transformation. Much has been said about what technology could do, but what about the people who are literally building it? Five Microsoft researchers shared their stories with Forward Future, a daily AI newsletter, about the big problems they’re tackling and the trends shaping their work in the middle of an ever-changing AI era.

Microsoft is expanding its Sovereign Cloud capabilities to meet rising global demands for control, compliance and AI scale. New capabilities include EU-based AI processing, Microsoft 365 Copilot localization in 15 countries and enhanced Azure Local services — all backed by in-country experts and a growing sovereignty ecosystem.

Cloud adoption is booming — but so are security risks. In 2024, organizations faced an average of nine cloud security incidents, up nearly 90% from 2023. As threats evolve and clouds get more complex, it’s time for security leaders to rethink their playbook. The International Data Corporation’s (IDC) latest insights spotlight five key strategies for staying ahead.

Microsoft’s Southeast Asia 3 cloud region is coming to the Malaysian city of Johor Bahru. It’s designed to power AI transformation, meet rising demand and reinforce the country’s regional digital leadership. When it launches, it’ll deliver Microsoft’s most advanced cloud services to support complex workloads and evolving needs across the region.

About 200,000 service members leave the military each year, going on to college or to work in a wide variety of fields. Colleges and universities are helping some veterans enter the burgeoning field of cybersecurity, where their military skills transfer well.

What kind of AI does the world really want? That’s the question Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI, hopes to answer with his newly announced MAI Superintelligence Team. It’s all part of a larger move by Microsoft AI working toward Humanist Superintelligence (HSI) —incredibly advanced AI capabilities that always work for, in service of, people and humanity.

He says HSI is a common-sense approach to the field, designed to get “all the goodness of science and invention without the ‘uncontrollable risks’ part.” Keep reading for more on how Suleyman envisions ensuring humanity remains at the top of the food chain.

Imagine a world where an AI agent working for you could go out into the world and make decisions on your behalf, communicating with, for example, a company’s AI agent to book you a flight or order your groceries. This is one of the scenarios explored in Magentic Marketplace, an open-source simulation environment for exploring the numerous possibilities of agentic markets and their wide-reaching societal implications. Read on about other possible futures with AI agents, plus the pros and cons of each one.