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Microsoft unveils Project Solara, a platform for agent-first devices, at Build
Microsoft has unveiled Project Solara at Build 2026, a chip-to-cloud platform built for devices that run AI agents rather than traditional apps, flagged by Jack Rowbotham. The platform pairs a lightweight operating system with enterprise security and management through Intune and Entra ID, and introduces "just-in-time UI," where agents experience generating and adapting their own interface to whatever device they run on, rather than requiring a redesign per form factor.
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What changed
Microsoft showed two enterprise concept reference designs: a desk companion and a wearable badge, built with Qualcomm and MediaTek silicon.
The thesis is that apps are giving way to agents as the primary way people interact with computers, and that purpose-built hardware designed around agents can better serve specific workflows than phones or PCs. Microsoft framed the two devices as reference designs rather than products it intends to ship, positioning Solara as a declaration of direction. Google, Salesforce, and OpenAI are building agent platforms too, but Microsoft is extending the idea to dedicated hardware.
Why it matters for advertisers
For you, this means the agent-first interface model is moving from software into hardware, with implications for how people will discover and act on information in future. Worth watching as an early signal of where post-app interaction is heading, rather than a development to act on this quarter. Building 40 custom skills inside Copilot Cowork: Jack Rowbotham's AI newsletter walks through how he built reusable Cowork skills solo, including promoting a finished conversation into a SKILL.MD file and converting existing style guides, briefing templates, and voice docs into reusable skills. A useful primer for teams moving beyond treating AI assistants as chatbots. • Read on LinkedIn · Jack Rowbotham The Universal Commerce Protocol explained: Mike Ryan is running a one-hour webinar demystifying Google's UCP and its implications for how products are discovered, evaluated, and purchased across Search, AI Mode, Gemini, and YouTube, covering both the strategy and the Merchant Centre feed requirements behind agentic commerce. • Read on LinkedIn · Mike Ryan
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Original newsletter text and archive evidence
Microsoft unveils Project Solara, a platform for agent-first devices, at Build
Microsoft has unveiled Project Solara at Build 2026, a chip-to-cloud platform built for devices that run AI agents rather than traditional apps, flagged by Jack Rowbotham. The platform pairs a lightweight operating system with enterprise security and management through Intune and Entra ID, and introduces "just-in-time UI," where agents experience generating and adapting their own interface to whatever device they run on, rather than requiring a redesign per form factor. Microsoft showed two enterprise concept reference designs: a desk companion and a wearable badge, built with Qualcomm and MediaTek silicon.
The thesis is that apps are giving way to agents as the primary way people interact with computers, and that purpose-built hardware designed around agents can better serve specific workflows than phones or PCs. Microsoft framed the two devices as reference designs rather than products it intends to ship, positioning Solara as a declaration of direction. Google, Salesforce, and OpenAI are building agent platforms too, but Microsoft is extending the idea to dedicated hardware.
For you, this means the agent-first interface model is moving from software into hardware, with implications for how people will discover and act on information in future. Worth watching as an early signal of where post-app interaction is heading, rather than a development to act on this quarter.
Building 40 custom skills inside Copilot Cowork: Jack Rowbotham's AI newsletter walks through how he built reusable Cowork skills solo, including promoting a finished conversation into a SKILL.MD file and converting existing style guides, briefing templates, and voice docs into reusable skills. A useful primer for teams moving beyond treating AI assistants as chatbots. • Read on LinkedIn · Jack Rowbotham
The Universal Commerce Protocol explained: Mike Ryan is running a one-hour webinar demystifying Google's UCP and its implications for how products are discovered, evaluated, and purchased across Search, AI Mode, Gemini, and YouTube, covering both the strategy and the Merchant Centre feed requirements behind agentic commerce. • Read on LinkedIn · Mike Ryan
Source captured . No explicit first-contributor label was provided for this update.
