Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) listed six AI trends in a December blog post that it expects to shine in 2025. Here's a look at what one of the most influential AI hyperscalers sees in the year ahead.

AI Models: Microsoft expects AI models to become more capable and more useful in 2025 and pointed to models with advanced reasoning capabilities, such as OpenAI o1. Microsoft said the models will continue to advance and will create new and more useful AI experiences in 2025. 

AI Agents: The company listed AI-powered agents, such as Microsoft 365 Copilot, as an example of AI becoming more useful with advancements in memory and reasoning in 2025. 

"Think of agents as the apps of the AI era," says Charles Lamanna, Microsoft's corporate vice president of business and industry Copilot. 

"Just as we use different apps for various tasks, agents will begin to transform every business process, revolutionizing the way we work and manage our organizations,"  Lamanna added. 

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AI Companions: Microsoft also touted Copilot as an "AI companion" that will assist users in their daily lives. The company said Copilot will evolve over the coming year to allow users to be more connected and can simply prioritize tasks outside of the workplace. 

Scientific Advancements: AI will also enable huge advancements in scientific research, Microsoft said. The company highlighted natural sciences, sustainable materials, drug discovery and human health as areas where AI has the potential to make breakthroughs in 2025. 

Energy Efficiency: The AI giant sees a focus on improved energy efficiency in data centers becoming standardized across the industry in 2025. Microsoft reiterated its goal of becoming "a carbon negative, water positive, zero waste company by 2030." 

"In 2025 and beyond we're going to increasingly have a holistic view of data centers, energy and resources, so that we can maximize the efficiency of our entire infrastructure," said Mark Russinovich, Azure's chief technology officer, deputy chief information security officer and technical fellow. 

AI Safety: Microsoft also revealed that a focus on building AI safely will be an industry trend in 2025. 

"One of the biggest developments this coming year can be summarized in two words: testing and customization," Microsoft's blog stated. 

The company said it will continue to work to build safe AI applications by developing tough and comprehensive testing. 

"Even as models get safer, we need to bring testing and measurement up to the worst of the worst threats that we see — testing that represents a sophisticated adversarial user and what they're able to do," said Sarah Bird, Microsoft's chief product officer of Responsible AI.

"We have the foundation, and we're going to continue to iterate on it moving forward." 

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