Microsoft AI Weekly #13: Copilot, GitHub, Azure AI & more

Oct 19, 2026

👋 Hi folks!

This week, Microsoft kept pushing AI beyond chat and deeper into actual work.

We saw Copilot start building team knowledge bases, Excel Copilot take on more tasks instead of just analysis, and a growing stream of announcements focused on agents, tools, memory, and business context. Even the Message Center is packed with signals that Microsoft is investing heavily in a future where agents can remember, reason, and get things done across your apps and data.

One post that stuck with me came from Jared Spataro, who argues that organisations will soon need to think about AI capacity the same way they think about people, budgets, and priorities. That’s a fascinating shift.

Plenty to unpack this week, so grab a coffee and let’s get into it.

⚡️ Microsoft

The latest from Microsoft on AI.

💼 Productivity & Work

Introducing a team knowledge base, curated by Copilot and agents • Kripal Kavi
Beyond Analysis: Copilot Gets to Work in Excel • Brian Jones
6 New Microsoft OneNote Features + Copilot Notebooks for ALL! (Fall 2026) • Mike Tholfsen

👩‍💻 Coding & Developer Tools

What will new developers do when AI writes the code? • Scott Hanselman and Mark Russinovich
Build AI-powered apps without creating a vector database • Steve Pucelik
GitHub Copilot app for Beginners: How to teach Copilot about your codebase • Christopher Harrison
Build an agent with the GitHub Copilot Harness | EP04 • April Dunnam
PRAISE: Preceptorship for AI-accelerated Software Engineering • Microsoft Developer and Scott Hanselman
Ship an AI agent without leaving your terminal • Microsoft Developer and Julia Muiruri

🐙 GitHub Changelog

🏗️ AI Apps, Agents & Platform

Our first streaming transcription model debuts at no. 1 on Artificial Analysis • MAI Superintelligence Team
AI-ready data: Building the foundation for enterprise AI at Microsoft • David Hirning
From extraction to action: Using grounding and confidence to build reliable document workflows • Joe Filcik and Colin Murphy
Evolving the cloud-native foundation for the next generation of AI • Mike Hulme
What’s new in Microsoft Foundry • Nick Brady
Automating engineering operations at Microsoft with a Smart DRI Agent • Alyse Maguire

🛡️ Security, Governance & Admin

Copilot to autopilot: Why no single safeguard is enough • Arun Malik

Copilot Studio

Adding skills to your agent | EP06 • Elaiza Benitez
Adding tools to your agent | EP05 • Elaiza Benitez

🌍 From the community

Hand-picked from MVPs and AI subject-matter experts around the globe.

🏗️ AI Apps, Agents & Platform

AI Weekly: Agent Accounts, Legal Skills, and Copilot’s App Reset • Josh Cook

📢 Message Center

Microsoft 365 Message Center posts, via mc.merill.net.

💭 Joanne’s Corner

I’ve been spending more time with Copilot Notebooks lately, and I think it might be one of the most underrated features in Microsoft Copilot.

Most people still think of Copilot as a place to ask a question and get an answer. Notebooks feel different. They give you a dedicated space to collect documents, links, notes, and prompts around a topic, then keep building on that work over time.

It’s a subtle shift, but I’ve found it changes the way I use Copilot. Instead of starting from scratch every time, I can continue working with context that’s already there.

With Microsoft continuing to invest in Notebooks, including the new suggested artifacts feature, I’m curious whether Notebooks will become the default starting point for knowledge work in Copilot.

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🪃 Acknowledgement of Country

MSAI.ms is written between Melbourne and Dubai. Part of this work is created on Wurundjeri land, and we acknowledge the traditional owners of country throughout Australia, recognising their continuing connection to land, water and community. We pay our respect to them and their cultures and to elders both past and present.

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