Microsoft Introduces MAI-Thinking-1 at Build 2026

Microsoft unveiled MAI-Thinking-1, a new reasoning-focused model with 35 billion parameters and a 128K context window. The model is designed for complex coding, analysis, and multi-step reasoning tasks. Microsoft aims to own more of the AI stack by offering differentiated models optimized for its ecosystem. The model can be tuned for GitHub, Azure, Windows AI workloads, and enterprise governance. This shift gives Microsoft greater control over deployment, cost structures, and roadmap priorities.