AI AGENT RACE FINLAND 2026 käynnistyy!
Kilpailun ohjeet ja arviointi Kilpailuun osallistuminen tapahtuu nominoimalla asiakascase ohjeistetulla tavalla sähköpostitse jollekin postauksen alla mainituista yhteyshenkilöistä. Nominoinnin tulee perustua todelliseen asiakastarpeeseen, jossa tekoälyagentti on käytössä tuotannossa tai selkeästi siirtymässä tuotantoon. Ratkaisun tulee ratkaista tunnistettu liiketoiminta‑ tai käyttäjäongelma ja tuottaa asiakkaalle mitattavaa tai muuten selkeästi kuvattavaa arvoa. Nominoinnin tulisi sisältää: Kumppani ja yhteyshenkilöt Asiakas ja toimiala Lyhyt kuvaus Lähtötilanne ja liiketoiminnan haaste AI-agentin rooli ja toiminnallisuus Hyödynnetyt teknologiat Liiketoimintahyödyt (esim. Aikasäästöt, laadun parantaminen, tehokkuus ja asiakaskokemuksen paraneminen) Arviointiperusteet: Vaikuttavuus asiakkaalle Agentin käyttöönotto ja käyttöaste Ratkaisun selkeys Toistettavuus ja skaalautuvuus Tarinan selkeys ja opittavuus Aikataulu Kumppanihaaste lanseerataan 5.2.2026, jonka jälkeen nominointien keruu on avoinna 5.2.–20.4.2026. Tänä aikana kumppanit voivat toimittaa asiakascaseihin pohjautuvat nominointinsa ohjeiden mukaisesti. Nominointijakson päätyttyä Microsoftin nimeämä raati arvioi kaikki ehdotukset. Julkaisemme viisi finalistia, joista voittaja valitaan ja julkistetaan 28.4. AI tour -tapahtuman lavalla. AI Agent Race 2026 on kutsu kumppaneille siirtyä agenttimoodiin – rakentaa, ottaa käyttöön ja osoittaa, miten tekoälyagentit tuottavat todellista ja kestävää arvoa asiakkaille. Yhteyshenkilöt: Tom Louhija, t-tom.louhija@microsoft.com Jonna Kaarlenkaski, jonna.kaarlenkaski@microsoft.com Luukas Westerholm, luukas.westerholm@microsoft.com
Writing Effective Prompts for Testing Scenarios: AI Assisted Quality Engineering
AI-assisted testing is no longer an experiment confined to innovation labs. Across enterprises, quality engineering teams are actively shifting from manual-heavy testing approaches to AI-first QA, where tools like GitHub Copilot participate throughout the SDLC—from requirement analysis to regression triage. Yet, despite widespread adoption, most teams are only scratching the surface. They use AI to “generate test cases” or “write automation,” but struggle with inconsistent outputs, shallow coverage, and trust issues. The root cause is rarely the model, it’s prompt design. This blog moves past basic prompting tips to cover QA practices, focusing on effective prompt design and common pitfalls. It notes that adopting AI in testing is a gradual process of ongoing transformation rather than a quick productivity gain. Why Effective Prompting Is Necessary in Testing At its core, testing is about asking the right questions of a system. When AI enters the picture, prompts become the mechanism through which those questions are asked. A vague or incomplete prompt is no different from an ambiguous test requirement—it leads to weak coverage and unreliable results. Poorly written prompts often result in generic or shallow test cases, incomplete UI or API coverage, incorrect automation logic, or superficial regression analysis. This increases rework and reduces trust in AI-generated outputs. In contrast, well-crafted prompts dramatically improve outcomes. They help expand UI and API test coverage, accelerate automation development, and enable faster interpretation of regression results. More importantly, they allow testers to focus on risk analysis and quality decisions instead of repetitive tasks. In this sense, effective prompting doesn’t replace testing skills—it amplifies them. Industry Shift: Manual QA to AI-First Testing Lifecycle Modern QA organizations are undergoing three noticeable shifts. First, there is a clear move away from manual test authoring toward AI-augmented test design. Testers increasingly rely on AI to generate baseline coverage, allowing them to focus on risk analysis, edge cases, and system behavior rather than repetitive documentation. Second, enterprises are adopting agent-based and MCP-backed testing, where AI systems are no longer isolated prompt responders. They operate with access to application context—OpenAPI specs, UI flows, historical regressions, and even production telemetry—making outputs significantly more accurate and actionable. Third, teams are seeing tangible SDLC impact. Internally reported metrics across multiple organizations show faster test creation, reduced regression cycle time, and earlier defect detection when Copilot-style tools are used correctly. The key phrase here is correct. Poor prompt neutralizes these benefits almost immediately. Prerequisites GitHub Copilot access in a supported IDE (VS Code, JetBrains, Visual Studio) An appropriate model (advanced reasoning models for workflows and analysis) Basic testing fundamentals (AI amplifies skill; it does not replace it) (Optional but powerful) Context providers / MCP servers for specs, docs, and reports Prompting - A Designing skill with Examples Most testers treat prompts as instructions. Mature teams treat them as design artifacts. Effective prompts should be intentional, layered, and defensive. They should not just ask for output, but control how the AI reasons, what assumptions it can make, and how uncertainty is handled. Pattern 1: Role-Based Prompting Assigning a role fundamentally changes the AI’s reasoning depth. Instead of: “Generate test cases for login.” Use: This pattern consistently results in better prioritization, stronger negative scenarios, and fewer superficial cases. Pattern 2: Few-Shot Prompting with Test Examples AI aligns faster when shown what “good” looks like. Providing even a single example test case or automation snippet dramatically improves consistency in AI-generated outputs, especially when multiple teams are involved. Concrete examples help align the AI with expected automation structure, enforce naming conventions, influence the depth and quality of assertions, and standardize reporting formats. By showing what “good” looks like, teams reduce variation, improve maintainability, and make AI-generated assets far easier to review and extend. Pattern 3: Provide Rich Context and Clear Instructions Copilot works best when it understands the surrounding context of what you are testing. The richer the context, the higher the quality of the output—whether you are generating manual test cases, automation scripts, or regression insights. When writing prompts clearly describe the application type (web, mobile, UI, API), the business domain, the feature or workflow under test, and the relevant user roles or API consumers. Business rules, constraints, assumptions, and exclusions should also be explicitly stated. Where possible, include structured instructions in an Instructions .md file and pass it as context to the Copilot agent. You can also attach supporting assets—such as Swagger screenshots or UI flow diagrams—to further ground the AI’s understanding. The result is more concise, accurate output that aligns closely with your system’s real behavior and constraints. Below is an example of how rich context can aid in efficient output Below example shows how to give clear instructions to GHCP that helps AI to handle the uncertainty and exceptions to adhere Prompt Anti-Patterns to Avoid Most AI failures in QA are self-inflicted. The following anti-patterns show up repeatedly in enterprise teams. Overloaded prompts that request UI tests, API tests, automation, and analysis in one step Natural language overuse where structured output (tables, JSON, code templates) is required Automation prompts without environment details (browser, framework, auth, data) Contradictory instructions, such as asking for “detailed coverage” and “keep it minimal” simultaneously The AI-Assisted QA Maturity Model Prompting is not a one-time tactic—it is a capability that matures over time. The levels below represent how increasing sophistication in prompt design directly leads to more advanced, reliable, and impactful testing outcomes. Level 1 – Prompt-Based Test Generation AI is primarily used to generate manual test cases, scenarios, and edge cases from requirements or user stories. This level improves test coverage and speeds up test design but still relies heavily on human judgment for validation, prioritization, and execution. Level 2 – AI-Assisted Automation AI moves beyond documentation and actively supports automation by generating framework-aligned scripts, page objects, and assertions. Testers guide the AI with clear constraints and patterns, resulting in faster automation development while retaining full human control over architecture and execution. Level 3 – AI-Led Regression Analysis At this stage, AI assists in analyzing regression results by clustering failures, identifying recurring patterns, and suggesting likely root causes. Testers shift from manually triaging failures to validating AI-generated insights, significantly reducing regression cycle time. Level 4 – MCP-Integrated, Agentic Testing AI operates with deep system context through MCP servers, accessing specifications, historical test data, and execution results. It can independently generate, refine, and adapt tests based on system changes, enabling semi-autonomous, context-aware quality engineering with human oversight. Best Practices for Prompt-Based Testing Prioritize context over brevity Treat prompts as test specifications Iterate instead of rewriting from scratch Experiment with models when outputs miss intent Always validate AI-generated automation and analysis Maintain reusable prompt templates for UI testing, API testing, automation, and regression analysis Final Thoughts: Prompting as a Core QA Capability Effective prompt improves coverage, accelerates delivery, and elevates QA from execution to engineering. It turns Copilot from a code generator into a quality partner. The next use case in line is going beyond functional flows and understanding how AI prompting can aid for – Automation framework enhancements, Performance testing prompts, Accessibility testing prompts, Data quality testing prompts. Stay tuned for upcoming blogs!!
Microsoft tool + one tip that made the biggest impact on your teaching
Hi everyone 👋 I’m Nahaa Alghamdi from Saudi Arabia, an English teacher and MIE Expert. Excited to join this incredible community! Quick question: What’s one Microsoft tool + one tip that made the biggest impact on your teaching this year (especially with Copilot / Teams / Forms)? Here’s mine to get the conversation started: This year, Microsoft Teams became my “home base” for English learning—resources, assignments, and quick check-ins all in one place. My favorite tip is using Microsoft Forms as a simple routine: ✅ Pre-Quiz to activate prior knowledge ✅ Exit Ticket to check understanding and collect evidence-based answers And when it comes to Copilot, I’ve been using it to: Generate differentiated speaking prompts and sentence frames (basic vs. advanced) Create quick reading questions and vocabulary practice aligned to lesson goals Draft model answers and feedback phrases to support students’ writing It’s helped me increase participation, save planning time, and improve the quality of students’ responses. I’d love to learn from you—what’s your one tool + one tip? 🌍Consumption-based pricing for agents built in SharePoint
Learn more about the pay-as-you-go pricing model as it relates to SharePoint agents in Microsoft 365. Last month, we introduced consumption-based pricing for SharePoint agents. This new billing model offers greater flexibility for organizations looking to start using SharePoint agents. The pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) meter enables customers to pay only for the messages they consume, providing an alternative to a per user/per month license. This model is designed to accommodate varying usage patterns, making it ideal for businesses with fluctuating demands.SharePoint Showcase: Automation updates for smarter workflows & business processes
The way work gets done continues to evolve. Across organizations, everyday tasks are moving beyond manual handoffs toward intelligent, connected workflows where AI helps coordinate activity and people focus on outcomes.Unleashing the power of agents in Microsoft Planner
In today's fast-paced world, AI has become an essential tool for enhancing productivity and efficiency. We are committed to empowering our users with innovative solutions that simplify their work processes, and we’re thrilled to introduce the latest updates to Microsoft Planner, designed to leverage the power of Copilot and agents to streamline project management and task organization. With the recent announcement of Project Manager agent, rolling out in public preview in the Planner app in Microsoft Teams, and the rollout of the new Planner for the web, we are bringing you a comprehensive suite of tools to help you and your team achieve more with less effort. We invite you to explore these exciting new features and discover how they can transform the way you work. Introducing Project Manager agent Project Manager agent is a new AI-powered agent designed to enhance your planning experience by acting as a virtual project manager within your plans. Project Manager agent is built to streamline your planning process, empowering you to focus on the strategic aspects of your work while it handles some of the tasks on your behalf. It is the latest development in enhancing and transforming team collaboration with AI in Planner. Earlier this year, we introduced Copilot in Planner (preview) as a personal companion experience designed to work alongside your planner workflow. With Project Manager agent, we’re now bringing AI capabilities directly into your plans, allowing you to interact with the agent as an integral part of your plan. Project Manager agent takes your goals and automatically breaks them down into actionable tasks. But it doesn’t stop there, it can also execute these tasks on your behalf. By managing the plan and executing tasks, the agent enables you to focus on impactful decisions while it contributes directly to the success of your project. When you start a plan with Project Manager agent, it guides you to define a goal you want to achieve (for example, conducting research on a specific topic). The agent will then generate all the necessary tasks for the research topic. Assign these tasks to the agent, and it will execute on them, providing detailed output that is automatically captured in a Loop page embedded within each task. All members of the plan can collaborate directly within the Loop page, exchanging comments and feedback with the Project Manager agent. Upon selecting Regenerate, the agent incorporates the feedback and generates a refined response, improving the task outcomes. At any point, if Project Manager agent does not have adequate information to generate necessary output, it will even ask clarifying questions that will allow it to provide better responses. You will notice that Project Manager agent is capable of contributing at every step of your plan, delivering value throughout the process. This comes with a new Project Manager View in Planner—your hub for setting goals, generating tasks, and showcasing the execution status. This intuitive interface lets you set your project goals and generate tasks, assign tasks to team members or the agent for execution and track progress and statuses in real time. Additionally, in the board view, you can also group tasks by Project Manager, which shows all the Project manager tasks and status in the appropriate buckets. At its core, the Project Manager agent runs on the Multi-Agent Runtime Service (MARS), a platform built on Microsoft Autogen. MARS leverages specialized agents with unique expertise, enabling the Project Manager agent to perform effectively across diverse scenarios. See the blog post to learn more about how Project Manager agent and MARS function. To help you get started, we’ve provided predefined, customizable templates on various topics, allowing you to quickly kickstart a Project Manager plan and easily tailor it to meet your specific goals. Once you’ve selected a template, you can modify the plan to align with your specific needs and goals, ensuring it meets your unique requirements while leveraging the agent’s capabilities for streamlined execution. From idea, to plan, to done, the Project Manager agent is your trusted partner, ensuring every aspect of your plan is managed seamlessly. We’re also introducing the Microsoft Whiteboard canvas in Planner! This new feature allows you and your team to brainstorm directly within the context of your plan. Upon creating a new plan with the Project Manager agent, you will now see a Whiteboard tab in the plan. Whiteboard offers a dynamic and collaborative canvas within Planner, allowing users to easily convert ideas into tasks and streamline workflow from ideation to action. In the canvas, you and your team can engage in real-time collaboration using inking, sticky notes, and templates. With the Planner integration, you can quickly convert your notes to tasks in one click, directly adding them to your plan. We’re excited to bring these powerful tools to your planning experience, and we can’t wait to see the impact of the Project Manager agent in your daily workflows! The new Project Manager agent will be rolling out to public preview in the Planner app in Teams in the coming weeks. To explore these capabilities, customers are required to have a Microsoft 365 Copilot license and also need to ensure their current Microsoft 365 licensing allows them access to Microsoft Loop. As this is a preview release, please note that the features may evolve based on user feedback and ongoing improvements. Initially, Project Manager agent will support English language as the interaction medium, and other languages in the future. We’d love for you to try it out and share your thoughts to help shape its future development! Please select the thumbs up or thumbs down button in the Project Manager view or in the Task details to share what you think about the experience. In addition, we are announcing two more capabilities that will be coming soon to Microsoft Planner: 1. Copilot in My Tasks view: This feature brings AI-powered organization and prioritization to your tasks, helping users effectively manage their backlog and enabling them to stay on top of what matters most. 2. Automated status report emails: Provides the capability to automatically generate a status email from your plans, streamlining the process of sharing weekly updates so you can spend less time on emails and more time moving projects forward. We expect these features to be available for our customers to try early 2025. Join us at Microsoft Ignite to learn more about Project Manager agent in our breakout session, "Boost productivity with Copilot in Microsoft 365 apps." Try Planner for the web today! The new Planner for the web is now available! This marks another major milestone in the Planner journey that we announced last November at Ignite. In April, we launched the new Planner app in Microsoft Teams, and now we've completed the rollout with Planner for the web. Planner for the web now brings together the simplicity of Microsoft To Do, the collaboration of Planner, the power of Project for the web, and the intelligence of Microsoft 365 Copilot into a simple, familiar experience. Discover a new way to manage tasks for individual plans, team initiatives, and larger scale project management aligned to goals and key strategic objectives. We’re excited for you to try it out and share your thoughts. Thanks to your ongoing feedback, we’re continuing to roll out bug fixes and new enhancements regularly to both Planner in Teams and Planner for the Web. We have more exciting updates coming soon including the availability of Planner for the web in GCC, a new board view in the My Tasks view, an updated experience for the Planner app in Teams channels, and more. Check in regularly on the roadmap to learn about what’s coming. Explore the new Portfolios feature The frequently requested Portfolios feature is also rolling out in the Planner app in Teams and will start rolling out in the new Planner for the web app in the coming weeks! This powerful addition is designed to help you effortlessly manage and track progress across multiple plans. With Portfolios, you can now get a consolidated view of all your premium plans and tasks, ensuring nothing slips through the cracks. Whether you're coordinating between teams or looking for a top-down perspective, Portfolios in Planner makes it all possible in one location, streamlining workflows and enhancing collaboration. Join our session at Microsoft Ignite We are eager to share more details about these exciting updates during our session at Microsoft Ignite! Join us as we dive deeper into the new features and capabilities of Planner, and learn how they can elevate your teamwork. Don't miss this opportunity to connect with our team and get a firsthand look at what's new. Share your feedback Your feedback helps inform our feature updates and we look forward to hearing from you as you try out the new Planner! Provide feedback by using the Feedback button in the top right corner of the Planner app. We also encourage you to share any features you want to see in the app by adding it to our Planner Feedback Portal. Learn more Check out the recently refreshed Planner adoption page. Sign up to receive future communication about Planner. Check out the Microsoft 365 roadmap for feature descriptions and estimated release dates for Planner. Watch Planner demos for inspiration on how to get the most out of the new Planner app in Microsoft Teams. Watch the recording from September's What’s New and What’s Coming Next + AMA about the new Planner. Visit the Planner help page to learn more about the capabilities in the new Planner.What's new in Microsoft Planner – June 2025
Discover the latest enhancements in Planner, designed to help you manage your work more efficiently. This month, we’re excited to highlight new features and updates that make planning, organizing, and tracking tasks simpler than ever. Get real-time task notifications for Project Manager agent via email In May, we introduced real-time task notifications for Project Manager agent in Planner in Teams, alerting you when a task is completed and ready for review or when your input is needed to move it forward. We’re now expanding these capabilities to send you notifications via email. This enhancement gives you more flexibility in how you stay informed, helping you maintain momentum on critical tasks—even when you’re away from Teams. Whether you prefer to manage your day from your inbox or your Activity feed, these notifications ensure you never miss a beat on the tasks assigned to Project Manager agent. Boost efficiency with Planner's bulk editing feature Planner’s new bulk editing feature is here to simplify task management. In the Grid view of any basic plan, you can now update multiple tasks simultaneously—assign tasks, adjust priorities, update progress, and modify start and due dates—all in one go. To get started, navigate to a basic plan and select the Grid view. Then, select a set of tasks you want to update by either selecting and dragging the tasks or by using Ctrl + the up arrow or down arrow. Use Project Manager agent to generate status reports - now in public preview The new Status Reports feature in Planner in Teams enables you to auto-synthesize your plan's progress, milestones, risks, and next steps, ensuring everyone on your team has shared visibility. All report features, including the ability to share the status report as a newsletter, are now available in public preview for all English users. Support for additional languages is being rolled out in the coming days. Learn more about how to generate status reports in minutes with Project Manager agent in Planner. Project Manager agent now supported in 40+ languages We’re excited to share that Project Manager agent is now multi-lingual! With this update, you can now use the Project Manager agent to generate and execute on tasks in any language that is also available for Microsoft 365 Copilot, excluding Arabic and Hebrew for now. Note that Arabic and Hebrew support, as well as the ability to generate status reports in these languages, will be available later this week. See the full list of supported languages for Microsoft 365 Copilot. ICYMI: A look back at what we shipped earlier this year Now that we’re halfway through the year, our team would love to recap some of our favorite Planner features that have shipped recently: Project Manager agent in public preview: The Project Manager agent is an AI-powered virtual project manager designed to enhance your planning experience by streamlining workflows and handling tasks on your behalf. The Project Manager agent integrates AI directly into your plans, empowering you to focus on strategy, while enabling smarter team collaboration. See our announcement blog post to learn more. Custom backgrounds: Personalize your workspace with images or themes, enhancing visual appeal and organization. To add a background, open the Plan details of any basic plan by either selecting the plan name or the dropdown menu next to it in the plan header. Board view in My Day and My Tasks: With Board view now available in My Day and My Tasks, you can manage and prioritize your tasks in a more visual way. Reorder columns across all plans: Previously, reordering columns was only available in premium plans. With this update, reordering columns is available across all Grid views. To try it out, simply select and drag the column headers to rearrange them, or use the CTRL + Shift + < and CTRL + Shift + > keyboard shortcuts. Generate status reports using Project Manager agent: The new Status Reports feature in Planner in Teams enables you to auto-synthesize your plan's progress, milestones, risks, and next steps, ensuring everyone on your team has shared visibility. Learn more about how to generate status reports in minutes with Project Manager agent in Planner. Retirement of Microsoft Project for the web: We also wanted to take this opportunity to remind everyone that starting August 1st, 2025, we will be transitioning all users to Microsoft Planner. As an effort to provide a unified work management experience, we are retiring Project for the web, as well as the Project and Roadmap apps in Microsoft Teams. No actions are necessary in preparation for this change as all licensing should carry over seamlessly. Learn more about this change in our announcement blog post. Do you have a Planner feature you’ve been enjoying recently? Let us know in the comments! Share your feedback Tell us what you think about the new Planner using the Feedback button in the top right corner of the app. We also encourage you to share any feature requests by adding your ideas to the Planner Feedback Portal. Your feedback helps inform our feature updates, and we look forward to hearing from you as you try Planner’s new and existing capabilities! Resources Check out the Planner adoption page. Sign up to receive future communication about Planner. Check out the Microsoft 365 roadmap for feature descriptions and estimated release dates for Planner. Watch Planner demos for inspiration on how to get the most out of Planner in Teams. Visit the Planner help page to learn more about the new Planner.Microsoft 365 Exceeds 450 Million Commercial Paid Seats
Microsoft FY26 Q2 results included a new figure for Microsoft 365 commercial paid seats: “over 450 million.” Seats are growing at a consistent 6% year-over-year rate, and the June 2026 increases could mean an extra $10 billion or so revenue. In other news, we learned that Microsoft 365 Copilot has 15 million paid seats, or roughly 3.33% of the Microsoft 365 installed base. https://office365itpros.com/2026/01/30/microsoft-fy26-q2-results/
