Vesa Nopanen – Future Work today
Welcome to explore the Future Work.
Microsoft keeps moving fast, and this time the update is significant: GPT‑5.2 is available for testing in Microsoft 365 Copilot and it is available for deployment through Microsoft Foundry. This matters more than it might first sound. It is not just a model update. It is a signal of how Microsoft is aligning Copilot experiences, … Continue reading GPT-5.2 in Microsoft 365 Copilot and in Microsoft Foundry
Microsoft Ignite 2025 is one of the highlights of the year for anyone interested about the future of work—and this year was no exception. I’m attending Microsoft Ignite in person in San Francisco. The conference theme centers on AI at every layer: from the cloud and security powering AI to the everyday tools where we … Continue reading Microsoft Ignite 2025 recap
It’s been a while since my last blog post. After the summer, life accelerated — projects, travels, events, and family time have kept me fully occupied. Sometimes the best way to keep balance is to pause something you love doing for a while — in my case, writing. The autumn has been busy with events, … Continue reading When Copilot Sees Your Screen: Copilot Vision
I jumped on the smart glasses rocketship, thanks to the Sulava Gulf who decided to gift to us all employees with smart glasses to embrace the AI-Native work! About two weeks, one conference in Paris, visit to our office at Dubai, and countless “Hey Meta…” moments later, here’s my take. Before continuing, here are key tech … Continue reading Ray-Ban Meta Wayfarer Smart Glasses experiences
Microsoft Build 2025 was all about turning the vision of AI-Native workplace into reality. We’re no longer talking about AI in abstract terms – we’re seeing concrete features that make AI a true collaborator in our daily work. I have selected the most important announcements from Microsoft Build 2025 related to Microsoft 365 Copilot and … Continue reading Microsoft Build 2025 recap: Co‑Creating with AI and Agents
Work is changing. Imagine a workday where AI seamlessly integrates into every task, transforming the way we operate. This is not a distant future; it's happening now with Microsoft 365 Copilot. Recently, I’ve been to Microsoft 365 Community Conference and listened to keynotes and sessions about what’s next such as Microsoft’s new M365 Copilot app, … Continue reading AI-First Future with Microsoft 365 Copilot
Azure AI Foundry and AOAI (Azure OpenAI Services) keeps on getting better all the time! The latest addition in Azure AI Foundry (as of April 14, 2025, yesterday) is the GPT-4.1 model, that has a generous 1M context window and cutoff day for June 2024! 1 million tokens understanding "memory", which translates to roughly 1500 … Continue reading GPT-4.1 is now available at Azure AI Foundry
The ability to generate a realistic video of a person speaking any text might still sound like science fiction, but it’s reality with Azure AI’s text-to-speech (TTS) avatars. This technology creates photorealistic digital humans that can speak with natural voices in multiple languages. In this article, I’ll dive into what Azure’s AI TTS avatars are, … Continue reading Photorealistic Azure Avatars for the Enterprise
The future is here, or at least a bit of the scifi-future is now be usable by Microsoft 365 Copilot licensed users who are using Microsoft Teams. The Interpreter Agent just hit Public Preview, and I of course I tested it out. I did not do a video how it works, but in this post … Continue reading Interpreter Agent in Teams is in Public Preview
AI technology and Azure AI continue to evolve rapidly, bringing innovations and options that can be applied to business operations. Two recent announcements in the Azure AI Foundry —Microsoft's Responses API and the Computer-Using Agent (CUA)—are set to enable Agentic AI to help with workflows, boost productivity, and eventually reshape business processes, workflows and even … Continue reading Understanding the Business Potential of Computer-Using Agents and Responses API
Microsoft just released the information that GPT-4.5 preview model is available for deployment at Azure AI Foundry! Not everyone can yet use this, but it requires a registration before it can be used. I, of course, placed in my application for the model but at this point I am still waiting for the registration result. … Continue reading GPT-4.5 preview is available in Azure AI Foundry
This is a fascinating topic! How does that sound - enabling nearly real-time live translations in meetings? Yes, a bit like scifi but it is today a reality. We will be able to enjoy that in Microsoft Teams meetings during early this year, as Microsoft announced during Ignite 2024 conference.. No, you don't have this … Continue reading Upcoming feature: Copilot Interpreter Agent in Teams Meetings
AI agents are becoming a key enabler for businesses looking to streamline processes, automate repetitive tasks, and empower their employees to work more efficiently. In Microsoft 365 Copilot, we’ve already seen a lot of solutions that focus on improving productivity for individuals. Yet, the potential for AI-driven automation goes much further when you can connect … Continue reading Azure AI Agents are in the Public Preview
DeepSeek R1 has been everyone's radar recently. Last night I heard Microsoft released it in the Azure AI Foundry. Today, I've been testing it—deploying it, trying some prompts with it, and noticing just how heavily it filters certain topics. This was not a surprise by any means. With the official announcement that DeepSeek R1 is … Continue reading Getting started with DeepSeek R1 at Azure AI Foundry
Welcome to 2025, the Year of AI Agents! Intelligent agents are one of the biggest buzzwords this year for good reason: they promise to make our work lives simpler in numerous ways. One starting benefit (ie: easy to create) is how well they handle information retrieval. We will see more active and actionable agents later … Continue reading How to enable Copilot Agents in SharePoint for non-Copilot users
As the year draws to a close, I find myself reflecting on what an incredibly eventful time it has been—especially in the realms of AI and Microsoft 365 Copilot. The pace of evolution in these areas is faster than ever before, and witnessing how Copilot is reshaping the way we work has been nothing short … Continue reading Bye 2024, Welcome 2025!
Some of us wait eagerly for new features to appear in our tech. Be it a mobile phone, tv or any of Microsoft 365 environments we use. The last one is getting new features at amazing speed – faster than ever. And we know what is getting the most love at Microsoft at the moment: … Continue reading How to create and use no-code SharePoint Copilot Agents
Have you already tried one of the latest features to Microsoft 365 Copilot: Copilot Pages? These are dynamic, persistent canvases designed specifically for multiplayer AI collaboration ( = working together with others in the same Page in real time). This feature can be used to make spontaneous, AI-generated content durable, editable, and shareable. That’s what … Continue reading Copilot Pages
You probably have heard the terms Enterprise Data Protection (EDP) and Commercia Data Protection (CDP) within the framework of Copilot. The distinction between them was not very clear and resulted in a bit of confusion and questions about what the difference is and what it meant to have EDP over CDP. Microsoft has just improved … Continue reading Enterprise Data Protection in Microsoft Copilot
After a month-long hiatus, I find myself back in the familiar yet ever-evolving landscape of technology. My time away was a precious opportunity to disconnect, recharge, and spend time with family and close relatives. To my surprise, I spent less time on LinkedIn during my vacation. It's in these quiet interludes that are needed and … Continue reading Up to speed with Copilot and Teams
Welcome to a day in life with Copilot. From the moment you sip your morning coffee to the last email you send out at night, Copilot is there, making tasks smoother and goals more attainable. Read on to know how this innovative tool transforms an ordinary day into an extraordinary one. This post become a … Continue reading A Day in Life with Copilot
There were cool announcements about Copilot for Microsoft 365 at Microsoft Build 2024 a few weeks ago. We heard about upcoming team level Team Copilots, how to create super-easily a light-weight Copilot out of selected files/folders from a SharePoint and Copilot Agents were also announced. The future looks interesting, but we still need to wait … Continue reading How to connect your Copilot to a SharePoint list with Copilot Studio and Power Automate
Microsoft Build's theme this year was expected: focused on Copilot & AI and how they are transforming our work scenarios now and in the future. Out of all announcements and news, I selected ones that are the most relevant to Future Work. Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium received several enhancements that will enrich the … Continue reading Build 2024 Future Work highlights
Or should I say Team x AI x Copilot Studio. Just recently I presented this topic at CollabDays Poland @ Microsoft Warsaw. This is the same topic I have already given a few times, but this session is always different since Azure OpenAI Studio and Copilot Studio are evolving at a very rapid pace! When … Continue reading Supercharging Teams with AI
As technology continues to evolve, so does Copilot. This powerful tool is constantly being updated with new enhancements, including new languages and features, to boost productivity and possibilities where it can be used. I thought I would take a short view to explore what the near future holds for Copilot and how it will continue … Continue reading The New and the Next of Copilot
It has been busy for past weeks. First Teams Nation 2024 was there and after that AI has been taking over at work big time. A tidal wave of AI/Copilot flushed away all energy and time. With most of the remaining time allocated to family (and sleep) that didn’t leave much time to think or … Continue reading A quick view at Copilot in Forms
Frontline workers are the backbone of many industries, such as manufacturing, heavy industrial, healthcare, retail and more. They operate and maintain complex equipment on the field and perform essential services to keep things operational and running. However, they often face challenges such as skill gaps, missing details or having difficulty finding or getting the right … Continue reading How Copilot in Dynamics 365 Guides helps frontline workers: Copilot x AI x Mixed Reality
Yes, Teams Nation Community Conference is back! And it is just a few weeks ahead, so let me tell you a bit about the event. It is happening Wednesday 21st February 2024, 09:00 – 20:00 CET (Central European Time) (UTC+1). In it you will find 60+ sessions that are delivered by Microsoft MVPs, Regional Directors, … Continue reading Teams Nation is back! Join us 21st Feb 2024!
Microsoft Mesh and Mesh in Teams (Immersive Spaces) are two innovative solutions that bring virtual connections to life and enable people to connect and collaborate in immersive and engaging ways – something that is required in the hybrid world. Microsoft Mesh is a virtual reality platform that allows users to have shared experiences no matter … Continue reading Microsoft Mesh is now Generally Available!
Let’s explore the Azure OpenAI GPT-4 Turbo with Vision model and how it can be used to describe image contents. The GPT-4 Turbo with Vision model is a large multimodal model (LMM) developed by OpenAI that can analyze images and provide textual responses to questions about them. It incorporates both natural language processing and visual … Continue reading How to use Azure OpenAI GPT-4 Turbo with Vision to describe images
Microsoft is constantly evolving and improving its AI services, and the Azure OpenAI is probably one of the fastest services to evolve. There is now support for GPT-4 Turbo with Vision, DALL-E3, enhanced content filtering and it keeps on improving. Azure OpenAI Functions is something that various AI apps are utilizing – and no wonder, … Continue reading Updates to Azure OpenAI Functions in the latest API
The year 2023 has been a remarkable, memorable, life-changing and transformative one for a lot of people around the world. The breakthrough of artificial intelligence, the expansion of digital platforms, the emergence of new forms of collaboration and creativity, and the advancement of social and environmental causes have shaped our lives, our work, and our … Continue reading Looking Back 2023, Looking Ahead 2024
Metaverse is not dead! I have been working recently with a lot with AI and Microsoft Mesh, but the metaverse much more: it is not just a virtual world. It is also a "platform" where physical and digital realities can converge. By using robotic avatars, we can bridge the gap between the real and the … Continue reading Robotic avatars at industrial metaverse
Have you ever wished to have a virtual assistant or a chatbot that can interact with your customers or audience in a more engaging and human-like way? Microsoft launched its Azure AI Speech text-to-speech avatar creator at the Microsoft Ignite 2023 last week. This capability, currently available for public preview, allows users to create photorealistic … Continue reading Photorealistic talking avatars with Azure AI Speech
Boom! Here it is: Microsoft Ignite 2023 news! As before I have collected to my blog post the most interesting new features Microsoft has released or announced. No, we did not get away from this Ignite either without a name/brand change. There are a few of them, as well as aggregating apps to a unified … Continue reading Microsoft Ignite 2023
Vesa Nopanen - Future Work today 