Microsoft is set to release a new coding model next week, a move that coincides with the company’s Build 2026 developer conference scheduled for June 2-3 in San Francisco.
The AI coding arms race is heating up
In May 2025, the company open-sourced the GitHub Copilot extension for Visual Studio Code. The move signaled that Microsoft was willing to trade some proprietary control for ecosystem loyalty and faster innovation cycles.
Visual Studio Code transitioned to a weekly release schedule starting in March 2026, beginning with version 1.111. The cadence is designed to push AI features out the door faster.
Tools like Cursor and Windsurf have been gaining traction among developers who want AI-native coding environments. Microsoft has also been integrating asynchronous coding agents into its developer ecosystem — AI that can work on tasks in the background while a developer focuses on something else.
