Microsoft wants AI 'agents' to work together and remember things

Microsoft is holding its Build conference in Seattle on May 19, where analysts expect the company to unveil its latest tools for developers building AI systems.

"It means that your imagination gets to drive what the agentic web becomes, not just a handful of companies that happen to see some of these problems first," Scott said.

Scott also said that Microsoft is trying to help AI agents have better memories of things that users have asked them to do, noting that, so far, "most of what we're building feels very transactional."

But making an AI agent's memory better costs a lot of money because it requires more computing power. Microsoft is focusing on a new approach called structured retrieval augmentation, where an agent extracts short bits of each turn in a conversation with a user, creating a roadmap to what was discussed.

"This is a core part of how you train a biological brain - you don't brute force everything in your head every time you need to solve a particular problem," Scott said.