Microsoft Build 2025 starts soon: How to watch - and why you'll want to

Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNET

Every year, the spring season brings a series of launch events from the major tech companies, including Microsoft. Now, the tech giant's annual developer conference, Microsoft Build, is here.

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With Google's annual developer conference, Google I/O, taking place the same week, and both companies' keynotes back-to-back, you may be wondering whether either or neither is worth tuning in to. Here's everything you need to know about Microsoft Build.

When is Microsoft Build 2025?

Microsoft Build will take place from May 19 to 22 in Seattle. The keynote, which will likely include major announcements -- including software and hardware reveals -- is slated for the first day from 12:05pm to 1:30pm ET.

AI can be expected to be a major theme of the keynote, with the event description on the schedule saying, "Satya Nadella and Microsoft leaders share how Microsoft is creating new opportunity across our platforms in this era of AI."

As a result, if you have been keeping up with the latest generative AI offerings, you won't want to miss the event. Last year, the event featured OpenAI-related announcements, with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman even making an appearance.

How to watch Build 2025

Even though Microsoft Build takes place in Seattle, the public can tune in to a livestream of the keynotes and breakout sessions on the company's website. To watch, you must register, and the digital pass is free. Getting started is as simple as signing in or registering with your existing LinkedIn, Microsoft or GitHub account, or creating a new username and password.

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Beyond the keynote, the session catalog has many more sessions you can browse to get a better idea of which you want to tune in to and which are best worth your time.

If you already know that date won't work for you, or you don't want to tune in to two keynotes -- Microsoft's and Google's -- in one week, don't worry: ZDNET will be covering the announcements and developments in real time on the site.

Why tune in to Build 2025?

Although Microsoft does not have all of the attention OpenAI has in the AI space, it's been a major player, offering competitive consumer, developer and enterprise AI solutions, such as its Copilot chatbot.

As a result, we expect Microsoft to unveil the latest of its AI offerings, which will likely include Office 365 applications, AI chatbots, Copilot+ PCs, and developer offerings such as GitHub, Fabric, Azure AI, and Azure DevOps. It also wouldn't be a developer conference in 2025 if we don't hear all about AI agents.

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Most likely, there'll be hardware launches as well. Last year, the day before Microsoft Build, Microsoft unveiled its first consumer AI PCs -- the Surface Laptop and Surface Pro. It also unveiled new PCs from its partners, including Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Samsung.

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