Microsoft Build 2026 unveils seven homegrown MAI models and Scout always-on agent, cheaper GitHub Copilot coding model
Microsoft \ is building its own AI to cut its dependence on OpenAI. At Build 2026 it unveiled seven homegrown MAI models, including a cheaper coding model for GitHub Copilot, plus Scout, an always-on agent that reads your email and calendar to reschedule meetings and draft replie
Microsoft \ used its Build 2026 developer conference to show how far it wants to reduce its reliance on partners like OpenAI. The company unveiled seven of its own MAI models, covering reasoning, coding, image generation, transcription and voice. One of them, a coding model, will run inside GitHub Copilot as a cheaper alternative to models from OpenAI and Anthropic, a direct move to keep developers inside Microsoft''s ecosystem. Microsoft also focused heavily on autonomous software. It introduced Scout, an always-on agent that connects to a user''s email, calendar and work messages to keep tasks moving without waiting for a prompt. Scout can monitor priorities, reschedule conflicting meetings and draft responses on a worker''s behalf. Microsoft also released a desktop version of GitHub Copilot in preview and showed Project Solara, a platform aimed at AI-native devices, alongside a developer machine powered by Nvidia \ chips. The announcements fit Microsoft''s broader shift toward what it calls an agent-first approach, where software acts on its own across a company''s systems rather than responding to individual commands. Reporting based on Microsoft''s Build 2026 keynote and coverage from Engadget, Tom''s Guide and Business Standard.