Microsoft 50th Anniversary Copilot Event: Everything announced at Redmond

Today's the day!

Microsoft will soon be getting ready to open its 50th Anniversary Copilot Event at 9:30 AM PT, and our Editor-in-Chief, Daniel Rubino, is on the ground ready to hear what the company has to say.

Stay tuned to our live blog for the latest news as it happens, possibly even before the event officially starts.

— Ben Wilson

Microsoft has remained tight-lipped about what exactly it will announce. Some had hoped that it would announce new Surface hardware, as that has been rumored to be arriving this spring.

However, we believe that new Surface hardware is unlikely to be announced today. Microsoft's next wave of Surface hardware is expected to be announced sometime next month instead.

If you'd like to know more about the next wave of Surface hardware, be sure to check out our exclusive report on Microsoft's upcoming smaller Surface PCs! We're expecting a smaller Surface Pro and Surface Laptop with screen sizes around 12 inches, powered by Snapdragon X Plus.

Today however, is all about Copilot!

— Zac Bowden

The event will likely be all about Copilot as an app and service. Last year, Microsoft redesigned Copilot with a brand new interface designed to be more friendly and approachable. Perhaps today's event will be about making Copilot even more human-like with better interactions and capabilities.

Last month, Microsoft even launched a brand new Copilot app for Windows with native UI elements, which looks beautiful! We're hoping to see Microsoft build upon this app, tying it more closely to Windows 11 with unique AI features.

We've arrived on the Microsoft Campus in Redmond! We're just grabbing some breakfast and getting set up with access to the venue, but we should be in and seated very soon. Exciting times!

And we're inside! Getting seated now. Show begins in just under 40 minutes.

Hey everyone! Windows Central is seated, well, at lest I am. We'll be starting in about 30 minutes, so grab a coffee (or a beer if in the UK) and relax a bit. - Daniel Rubino, Editor-in-chief

And looks like Phil Spencer is here! It is Microsoft's 50th and today is A Minecraft Movie day, so lots going with gaming and Microsoft today.

And there's a live band that's quite loud (Alan Stone), but they seem to be having fun, so that's good 🎶🎸

For those curious, we're inside a tent with an entire stage, carpet, and even AC power; there is not a lot of media here, but lots of Microsoft employees, as after the Copilot stuff, this will be about their 50th Anniversary.

Anyway, here's what it looks like.

RIP Windows Mobile/Windows Phone. You were ahead of your time ✊

Alright, 10 more minutes and we begin.

And we're now kicking off the event!

Some breaking news from Microsoft: https://www.windowscentral.com/software-apps/windows-11/copilot-vision-for-windows-11-announcement-2025

And looks like Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer are here! And Nadella takes the stage.

Satya is talking about AI and now "going to agents" and how much progress it has made in the last 2 years.

Nadella is talking about Microsoft's first product, Altair Basic.

More Copilot news: https://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft/copilot-memories-announcement-2025

And even more features coming to Copilot as Microsoft adds back some features with the new redesign https://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft/copilot-actions-announcement-2025

Nadella is demonstrating its new "Agent factory," so going a bit heavy into development including AI Red Teaming Agent to build "trustworthy AI systems."

Microsoft is "now a platform company where everyone can be a developer."

Nadella is now thanking everyone who has contributed to Microsoft to "get us to this moment."

"Today, we'll share what's ahead for Copilot" and now Mustafa takes the stage.

Mustafa is now thanking Gates, Ballmer, and Nadella and talking about his first experience with Windows (Windows 95) and how that first computer transformed his life. "Windows opened a whole new world for me."

"There's nothing inevitable about the future; it's something we have to create" - Mustafa

Musfata is now talking about the next 50 years for Microsoft and how far humans have come along, including longevity, health, and productivity.

"Eveyrone is about to have a world expert in their pocket"

"AI really is different ... far richer than any tool"

Oh boy, protester!

"Stop using AI for genocide"

"Microsoft is killing children"

Ouch.

Mustafa pivots back to "what is an AI companion"

A new video rolls showing things Copilot has done to help people "feels true, feels real."

Gates, Ballmer and Spencer enjoying the vision of AI for Microsoft. "Every week we're evoloving that calm and clarirty" that's so important for it users.

Mustafa is now explaining what makes Copilot unique, different, and personal. Maps, text, video, images, now built in into search for personalized, dynamically generated information

"Learning about everything never felt so fun"

Copilot recorded a podcast with Gates, Ballmer and more and it's now available in the Copilot app.

Mustafa moves on to the shopping assistant, including the ability to make purchaes within the Copilot app; and thanks to Copilot Vision, the AI can see what you're looking at including using your camera/video in real time.

Copilot can see things changing and react in real time.

"Just 10 years ago there was no AI system that could generate a single sentence."

IQ (intelligence) + EQ (emotion) + AQ (action)

Another video reel rolliing, showing real-world usage/examples of how Copilot can help you find apartments, do research, etc. Copilot can now even fill out forms on websites.

Copilot Pages lets you colloborate with Copilot in a real conversation for specific tasks. Let's you upload documents and combine it with Copilot's response.

Another example shows how Copilot can show you how to edit a photo using Photoshop due to Copilot Vision. Pretty impressive stuff, tbh.

Mustafa believes this will completely change how we use computers forever.

Copilot Studio lets you use your data to create specific AI agents for your company. This is a "productivity revolution."

Everything announced today is available today or in the coming weeks.

Another video showed how Copilot helped a dog trainer get two dogs to get along; the trainer said that Copilot "gave me the tools on how best to communicate."

Elvira and Chris from the video, which showed some real-world examples, are on stage doing a quick interview.

What's neat about this is that these aren't just actors but real people sharing their Copilot/AI experiences.

Plus, doggo. Look at that fluffy boi!

"I'm not embarrassed to ask questions" she says, and notes how typical search can't do what Copilot does.

really sweet lady

Correction, the dog is a girly ;P

Chris is now talking about using Copilot for a personal issue for the first time; it packaged it well in a way that resonated well with me. Talks about his neighbor, the generation gap, and how Copilot gave him some great talking points so that Edith felt comfortable that her dog would be good in his hands.

Related, I'm really excited to see how this happens: The idea of creating your own avatar for Copilot; really pushes the agentive AI category to a new level

https://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft/copilot-avatar-virtual-face-announcement-2025

Speaking of, Mustafa is now pivoting to how Copilot will be unique to each user, including giving it your own personal name.

Copilot memory lets the AI remember details about you so that it can do a better job of actually being an AI companion. "You can always start from a place of deep understanding based on what you want to share."

You can view and remove those memories at any time, as you're always in charge of your information. Microsoft will earn your trust by listening to people and improving Copilot.

There are some new ways to interact with AI. Mustafa is now talking about the AI/avatar stuff I just linked to.

Early stages for this stuff; but Copilot can take whatever form you'll want; "it's now for everyone, but we're staying super curious for what's on the horizon ... this will be yours"

You could even make it into Clippy, which is hilarious (audience cheers).

And Mustafa thanks everyone and wraps up the AI portion.

We're now moving on to Microsoft's 50th Anniversary.

This won't be live-streamed, but I can share some photos/bits as they go live if you want to stick around! - Daniel

Bill Gates is doing a live video chat, which is kind of funny (he did just walk off and went behind stage).

My hunch is Gates, Ballmer, will take the stage for some Q&A or talking abou the company's history.

This feels like a talk show format lol. They have the live band going again (Alan Stone) and Cleo Abram and Brenda Song are here.

Brenda is making some light chatter about Microsoft and speaking to the employees.

Moving on to Altair, Fortran, and MS-DOS, and how a whole industry grew up around Microsoft. She's also joking about the different Microsoft logos through the 70s and 80s and the various Microsoft sounds over the years from Windows, Xbox, and the legendary Windows 95.

Going through some "viral moments" from Microsoft, including Clippy and the size of the original Xbox.

She's now joking about "what the hell is quantum computing" and "what is a qbit" she thinks they're making this stuff up.

Bill Gates is now on stage and "is here to help"

Gates explains how important quantum computing will be to medicine; now she asks how much of Pi does he know by memory.

She's now going into the audience to talk to some alumni from Microsoft, interviewing them.

Oh, it's Phil Spencer who started as an intern in the 1980s. She asks how many hours of gaming he does a week, jokes "20, 25 hours" and swears he works every day and doesn't just play video games lol

They're taking a break to regroup, rolling some funny video with a very droll woman talking about Paint and Microsoft.

Switching to desk format for interviews.

First interview is with Bill Gates, going through how the company started and telling some stories of where to settle down for the company; decided in 1979 to land in Seattle.

She asks about the "putting a computer in every home" mission and now pivoting to AI.

"The new frontier is intelligence, which is even MORE profound thatn what came from the last 50 years." - Bill Gates

And Gates wraps his segement. I'm guessing Ballmer will be next? Will he do developers meme?

And Ballmer is here! Full energy. Talks briefly about basketball (the Clippers and being better than the Lakers).

He moves on to how he became CEO and Gates passing on the torch.

IBM entering in 1981 and the next 20 years was really about the software.

Ballmer talking about the current Microsoft, calls them super smart, super committed, innovative, and competitive.

lol Right now Frank Shaw, head of communications, is going through some "mean tweets" about Microsoft's previous products, including some Clippy hate.

They've now pivoted to a "how much do you know" about Microsoft with some employees.

KC Lemson is on deck, legend. She'll win this for Team one.

First Q: Photo of first office in New Mexico.

When did MS stop offering more than water (free beverages) for employees?

A: 1978

Z80 Soft Card was an addon card for which computer?

A: Apple 2

How many floppies did it take to load Windows 1.0

A: 5

Visual Basic launched in 1991 ... what was its codename?

A: Thunder

lol, no one knew it

The first time NASA sent a consumer tech product in space it was from Microsoft. What was it?

A: It was a mouse! Not the animal kind; they sent 5 mice up.

Drawing challenge: Draw the Copilot icon lol

They all failed miserably.

That's the end of "If you know, you know."

Moving on to next segment.

Moving on to Cleo Abram as 2nd host (phew, this is getting long), host of "Huge if true."

Also, more protestors, now outside the venue, marching/shouting with drums. Yikes.

Ah, the moment we've been waiting for, all 3 CEOs on stage, talking about each other, the company and what they've learned from each other

Oof more protestors shouting down Ballmer, Gates, and Nadella.

The protestor was escorted out. They were protesting Microsoft's role with Israel and the Palestinian war.

What is your one hope for Microsoft in the next 50 years?

Gates: "I hope Copilot is a great CEO" lol

"Hopefully we'll all be here in 10 years to see where it all goes" notes that the next 10 years is going to be very critical.

Ballmer: Notes very few companies are relevant after 50 more years, so will be a very big accomplishment. Predicts another 3 CEOs in next 50 years, "including Copilot"

Nadella: "all goes back to Microsoft's origin story... " "staying true to identity and empowering people is my great hope"

"Golden ticket winner" Microsoft employee gets a photo op with all the CEOs

One more surprise: Official release of A Minecraft Movie.

Showing some behind-the-scenes footage of the making of the film. Jack Black talking about Microsoft's 50th.

And wrapping up the 50th bit for Microsoft!

That's all for me, folks, thanks for hanging out!

— Daniel Rubino, Editor-in-Chief.