Microsoft Build 2017 highlights: Satya Nadella shows off better AI, bots, Cortana

Microsoft is expected to make some new announcements including the launch of a new artificial intelligence-powered speakers just like Google Home and Amazon Echo at the Microsoft Build 2017 developers conference in Seattle. Follow live updates of the Microsoft Build 2017 keynote here.

Microsoft is expected to make some new announcements including the launch of a new artificial intelligence-powered speakers just like Google Home and Amazon Echo at the Microsoft Build 2017 developers conference keynote in Seattle. Get live updates of Microsoft Build 2017 here. (Microsoft)

Microsoft is expected to make some major announcements around bots, Edge browser and Cortana-powered speakers at the 2017 Build developer conference in Seattle on Wednesday. Get live updates of Microsoft Build 2017 keynote here:

9:32 PM: Satya is out. Scott Guthrie, head of the cloud business, is on stage to show off developer tools and Azure. We will be back with all the updates of the conference and the new software, hardware that Microsoft releases during the conference.

9:30 PM: The demo ends to unveil a wearable developed by a Microsoft researcher to calm hand tremors. It's called Emma.

9:22 PM: Satya is back. He is hinting at the keynote conclusion. Nothing for people who were waiting for Surface devices. Conclusion demo video playing now. Before Satya goes, he's back to the opportunity and responsibility developers have right now. It's about empathy for users and humans, trying to actually solve problems for people.

9:18 PM: Laura is showing off the power of bots in Microsoft Teams -- a Slack competitor. Users can take advantage of all apps from Microsoft such as the Companion app, Skype, email in the form of Outlook, LinkedIn, Microsoft Graph and others. Slack has Giphy but Teams has virtual worlds.

.@JoyChik chats with #TeamTactile's @jialinshi at the #WomenInTech & Business Reception from #MSBuild earlier this evening. pic.twitter.com/PVTmkcm3kv

— Microsoft Developer (@msdev) May 10, 2017

9:15 PM: Laura Jones is on stage to showcase how Cortana can help with daily tasks. This is also a demo to show how Microsoft services work across devices, and across platforms. Cortana can know your meeting time, your fuel level, and when your flight leaves, and tell you when you need to leave home. Laura is speaking to the new Invoke speaker from Harman Kardon. There is also a HP speaker with Cortana but not on stage.

9:10 PM: Satya is back and moves on to end-user computing. He is hinting at something like Continuum. He says that the journey started with Office 365. Notifications, agents, task completion, all that can be improved with this cross-platform tech, he says adding that Microsoft wants to solve the complex problems.

9:08 PM: Andrea is showing off the image-recognition abilities. The image-recognition can be used to create policies that will create rules at the workplaces.

9:05 PM: On-stage demo of a construction site. We have a camera tracking people, equipment, and the work being done, to make sure everything is as it should be. You can type into an app, where is a jackhammer?, and the object-recognition can find the tool while the service also finds the person who knows how to use it. The jackhammer is resting in a really unsafe position, and the camera can actually flag that it shouldn't be standing up like that.

#MSBuild pic.twitter.com/WvfsLweXzO

— Microsoft (@Microsoft) May 10, 2017

9:01 PM: Satya calls on Andrea Carl to show how Cortana can ensure safety at workplace and hospitals. Andrea Carl coming up to show a demo of how all this new stuff fits together — using the intelligent edge to bring storage and capability inside organizations, running computer vision and other stuff, all together to "turn any place into a safe, AI-driven place."

8:57 PM: "With Azure IOT Edge you can do all this work on a device smaller than a Raspberry Pi. You don't have to send all that data to a server farm—everything can happen on the devices themselves, in your network," George says before leaving stage. Satya is back.

8:53 PM: Microsoft is demoing new computing devices via cloud control on Windows Azure. Sam George, from the IOT team, up to talk about how this works. Sandvik has a million-dollar machine, and I'm told it's bad when it breaks. Working through Microsoft's Azure cloud platform, the machine can automatically shut down before it breaks.

The shift in the #intelligentcloud & #intelligentedge will pervasively change everything we do in Windows, Office 365 & Azure. #MSBuild

— Microsoft (@Microsoft) May 10, 2017

8:50 PM: Server-less computing is the future, says Nadella. He claims that it is going to change the economics of back-end computing. He also hints at subtle changes to Azure platform.

#MSBuild pic.twitter.com/TPpTdE4KYG

— Microsoft (@Microsoft) May 10, 2017

8:47 PM: The next big platform shift is happening to AI, says Nadella. He adds that Microsoft is aggressively moving its intelligence to the cloud -- easier way to distribute.

8:45 PM: Nadella opens up more about Cortana. Says Microsoft will push conversation as a platform and bots.

8:42 PM: Microsoft by the numbers: 500 million Windows 10 devices, 100 million Office 365 and more than 140 million monthly active users for Cortana. Over 90% of Fortune 500 companies use Microsoft products, says Nadella.

8:37 PM: Nadella says that it is not about technology but what people do with it. "This is what we have been striving to do in this with our mobile first and cloud first platforms," Nadella adds. He also goes on to say how these platforms will generate revenues for the company. Expect more updates about Windows Store, Office, Outlook extensions and Cortana.

To empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more, we must empower every developer. #MSBuild

— Microsoft (@Microsoft) May 10, 2017

8:35 PM: "There are unintended consequences of technology and we can't just solve those problems without more tech," says Nadella. He goes on to say that Microsoft wants to amplify the technology to help people.

8:33 PM: Nadella says these developer conferences "mark the passage of time," opens with a very old slide from a dev conference long ago. Says "the opportunity for us as developers to have broad deep impact on all parts of society has never been greater".

Global internet traffic:

1992: 100 GB/day
Today: 20K GB/second#MSBuild

— Microsoft (@Microsoft) May 10, 2017

8:31 PM: Satya Nadella on stage starting the Microsoft Build 2017 keynote. He hints that the keynote will be about cloud computing

8:21 PM: The stage is all set for the Microsoft Build developers conference 2017 as visitors take their seats. The keynote by CEO Satya Nadella will begin shortly. Music playing in the background.

8:20 PM: Microsoft is expected to launch a redesigned version of Windows 10 and a new set of speakers powered by artificial intelligence. Speculations were rife about a Harman Kardon speaker that comes with digital assistant Cortana.

#MSBuild 2017 is starting NOW.

Join us live in Seattle: https://t.co/P8Cvjleuej pic.twitter.com/jelNvWTzg6

— Microsoft (@Microsoft) May 10, 2017

The venue of Microsoft Build 2017 live conference has been changed from San Francisco to Seattle and speculations are rife that the company may not launch new Surface hardware at the conference but in a separate event in Shanghai on May 23.

#MSBuild, our annual conference for #developers, starts Wednesday at 8:00 PT.

Retweet if you'll be joining in Seattle or watching online. pic.twitter.com/2Av2WPu01U

— Microsoft (@Microsoft) May 5, 2017

The Microsoft Build 2017 live conference is scheduled to start at 8:30 PM IST Wednesday night and you can catch the live updates here.

.@JoyChik chats with #TeamTactile's @jialinshi at the #WomenInTech & Business Reception from #MSBuild earlier this evening. pic.twitter.com/PVTmkcm3kv

— Microsoft Developer (@msdev) May 10, 2017