Microsoft has a lot of news at this year's Build conference around its AI "copilots" for Windows 11 and other products, but it wants third-party developers in on the action too. The company announced that it has expanded its AI plugin ecosystem and provided a framework for building AI apps and copilots. At the same time, it's adopting the same open plugin standard that OpenAI uses for ChatGPT to ensure it'll work alongside its Windows 11, 365 and other copilots. Microsoft introduced the idea of copilots nearly two years ago. Those are applications that use AI and LLMs (large language models) to help users with complex cognitive tasks like writing sales pitches, generating images and more.

Without question, 2018 was a big year for artificial intelligence (AI) as it pushed even further into the mainstream, successfully automating more functionality than ever before. Companies are increasingly exploring applications for AI, and the general public has grown accustomed to interacting with the technology on a daily basis. The stage is set for AI to continue transforming the world as we know it. In 2019, not only will the technology continue growing in global prevalence, but it will also spawn deeper conversations around important topics, fuel innovative business models, and impact society in new ways, including the following seven. In 2018, we witnessed major strides in MLaaS with technology powerhouses like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon leading the way.

Alphabet Inc's Google is revamping the Google Play Store to help developers build their businesses as concerns mount that the app economy has reached saturation. The overhaul includes recommendations with artificial intelligence and support for various payment platforms, as well as embracing other platforms like virtual reality. Google's efforts in some way mirror those of arch-rival Apple, which revamped its App Store this year with quicker review times for new apps and an increase in the cut of revenue that goes to developers. Alphabet Inc's Google is revamping the Google Play Store to help developers build their businesses as concerns mount that the app economy has reached saturation. The Google Play store overhaul will focus on helping developers build their business.

Microsoft's recently launched, A.I.-powered bot Tay may have embarrassed the company when Twitter users taught the machine how to be racist, but Microsoft hasn't given up on the future of bot development. At Microsoft's annual Build conference in San Francisco today, CEO Satya Nadella unveiled the company's plans to bring the world of bots to "conversational platforms" – meaning not only Skype, but also other communications tools like Slack, Outlook, LINE, and more. News of the bots' unveiling was previously reported by Bloomberg, but today's onstage demonstrations revealed how bots, including Microsoft's own virtual assistant Cortana, aim to help pave the way for the future of communication, productivity, and interactions with businesses and brands. In Skype, the company showed off rich Cortana integration which put the assistant directly into the app where she could help users do things like identify the persons, places and things in your messages, underline them, and then display more info in a card-like interface when clicked. She is also able to help you perform a variety of tasks, like adding items to your calendar, booking travel or hotel rooms, or even pre-populating conversations to friends with text.

Microsoft today is introducing the Bot Framework, a new tool in preview to help developers build their own chatbots for their applications. There is also a new bot directory full of sample bots -- like the BuildBot -- that Microsoft is showing off today at the company's Build developer conference in San Francisco. A BotBuilder software development kit (SDK) is available on GitHub under an open source MIT license. These bots can be implemented into a variety of applications, including Slack or Telegram or even email. "Bots are like new applications," Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella said.