The past 10 days have seen a wave of agentic AI announcements: Microsoft and Google are embedding agentic models and protocols deeply into their platforms, OpenAI is moving into hardware and open models, and Anthropic is pushing the boundaries of autonomous, long-duration AI agents for enterprise use. The industry is rapidly shifting from conversational assistants to true agentic AI capable of sustained, autonomous workflows across both consumer and enterprise domains.
Microsoft
Major Announcements at Build 2025:
AI Model Expansion: Microsoft is now hosting a broad array of AI models in its Azure data centers, including those from xAI (Elon Musk), Meta, Mistral, Black Forest Labs, and Anthropic, in addition to OpenAI. This move positions Microsoft as a more neutral platform, reducing its exclusive reliance on OpenAI and offering developers flexibility to mix and match models with reliability guarantees
Agentic Copilot Enhancements: Copilot received major upgrades, including new agentic capabilities. The new GitHub Copilot agent can autonomously complete coding tasks based on user directives, moving beyond simple code suggestions to more sophisticated, multi-step problem-solving.
Windows AI Foundry: Formerly Copilot Runtime, Windows AI Foundry is now a unified platform for fine-tuning and deploying AI models locally on Windows and macOS, streamlining AI app development and hardware optimization
Model Connectivity Protocol (MCP): Microsoft and GitHub are integrating MCP throughout Azure and Windows, allowing AI models to access and manipulate business data and system functions programmatically. This protocol is also being adopted by OpenAI and Google
NLWeb Protocol: Microsoft introduced NLWeb, an open framework for embedding conversational AI interfaces into any website with minimal code, supporting custom models and proprietary data. NLWeb aspires to be the HTML of agentic web experiences
Microsoft Discovery Platform: Announced as an AI-powered platform for scientific research, leveraging specialized agents to automate everything from hypothesis generation to simulation and analysis
Edge AI APIs: New experimental APIs in Edge enable on-device AI tasks (e.g., math, writing, translation) with enhanced privacy by processing data locally
Grok 3 Integration: Microsoft Azure now offers managed access to xAI’s Grok 3 and Grok 3 mini models, with enhanced data integration and governance
Multi-Model Validation: Microsoft is encouraging the use of multiple language models to cross-validate outputs, especially for complex tasks like travel planning, to improve reliability
Walmart Collaboration Leak: Walmart’s “MyAssistant” tool, built with Azure OpenAI Service, was highlighted as a powerful internal agent, with Microsoft perceived as “WAY ahead of Google with AI” by Walmart’s engineering team
Key Announcements at Google I/O 2025:
Gemini 2.5 Pro and Deep Think: Google is rolling out Gemini 2.5 Pro with an experimental “Deep Think” enhanced reasoning mode for complex math and coding, initially available to trusted testers via the Gemini API
AI Mode in Search: Google’s new “AI Mode” is now available to all U.S. users, offering conversational, multimodal, and deeper reasoning capabilities directly in Search. It features a dedicated tab and leverages a custom Gemini 2.5 model for both AI Mode and AI Overviews
Project Astra and Mariner: Live capabilities (e.g., real-time visual conversation via camera) and agentic features (like event ticketing and reservations) are coming to AI Mode in Labs, expanding the scope of agentic AI in consumer search
AI-Driven Shopping and Data Analysis: New shopping experiences integrate AI with Google’s Shopping Graph, including virtual try-ons and agentic checkout. AI Mode will soon analyze complex datasets and create custom visualizations for sports and finance queries
AI Ultra Subscription: Google introduced a premium AI subscription plan with higher usage limits and access to advanced tools, priced at $249.99/month for business users
XR Smart Glasses Preview: Google previewed Android XR-powered smart glasses with built-in AI assistant, camera, and hands-free features, developed in partnership with Gentle Monster and Warby Parker10
Scale of AI Overviews: AI Overviews now reach 1.5 billion monthly users in 200 countries, with significant engagement increases in key markets like the U.S. and India
AI Mode’s Impact on Search: The deep integration of AI in Search is transforming user experience and raising questions about the future of search advertising and web traffic
OpenAI
Recent Developments:
Acquisition of Jony Ive’s io Startup: OpenAI announced a $6.5 billion all-stock acquisition of io, the AI device startup co-founded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive. This partnership aims to create a new family of AI-powered, screen-free, voice-first personal devices, with plans to ship over 100 million “AI companions” that integrate deeply into daily life
Open Model Initiative: OpenAI is developing an openly accessible AI model, led by VP of Research Aidan Clark, which will be downloadable for free and not restricted by API limits. This model is still in early development
GPT-4.1 and New Reasoning Models: OpenAI released GPT-4.1 and new reasoning models (o3 and o4-mini), emphasizing advanced reasoning and multi-modal capabilities, though independent tests suggest increased hallucinations compared to earlier models
OpenAI “Library” for Image Generation: A new “library” section in ChatGPT makes AI-generated images more accessible to all user tiers
Social Media Platform Plans: OpenAI is reportedly developing its own social media network to compete with X (Twitter) and Instagram/Threads
Adoption of Anthropic’s MCP: OpenAI is adopting Anthropic’s Model Connectivity Protocol (MCP) to improve data access and interoperability for AI models, including in the ChatGPT desktop app
Policy Changes: OpenAI has relaxed some image generation restrictions in ChatGPT, now permitting the creation of images featuring public figures and controversial content
Anthropic
Major Announcements:
Claude 4 Opus and Sonnet Models: Anthropic launched its most advanced models, Claude Opus 4 and Claude Sonnet 4. Opus 4 is described as the “world’s best coding model,” capable of sustaining focus on complex, long-running tasks for up to seven hours autonomously—enabling agentic workflows that move beyond simple assistant roles
Hybrid Agentic Capabilities: Both models can perform quick responses or engage in extended, multi-step reasoning. They can use tools like web search in parallel, extract/save facts from local files, and maintain context over long projects
Enterprise Use Cases: Claude Opus 4 was used by Rakuten for nearly seven hours of continuous coding on a complex open-source project, showcasing its capacity for autonomous enterprise workflows
Security and Safeguards: Anthropic published a transparency report detailing security tests on Claude 4, highlighting rare but notable instances of “mischievous” behavior and the implementation of additional safeguards
Focus Shift: Anthropic has deprioritized chatbots in favor of agentic models that can handle research, programming, and other complex tasks, with a focus on reliability and risk mitigation for enterprise users