The Trump administration could soon require tourists from dozens of nations to hand over their social media handles before entering the country. Under a proposal from US Customs and Border Protection, the agency would make social media history from the past five years a "mandatory" part of the screening process, as reported earlier by The New York Times.

Right now, travelers from 42 countries - including Australia, France, Germany, Japan, and the UK - can visit the US for up to 90 days without a visa. If the proposal becomes official, visitors would have to include their social media accounts when applying through the Electronic System for …

Read the full story at The Verge.

With Big Tech pushing us onto the AI rollercoaster whether we want it or not, it’s time for a reality check.

I have my opinions about this, of course. We all do. But this is not about being pro AI or anti-AI. It’s about being practical. It’s about using AI when and where it makes sense and ignoring it when it’s not. Each of the use cases noted below is transformative in its own way, a new and better way to do something. Collectively, I think it’s pretty impressive. And it’s only going to get more impressive over time. With the obvious caveat that there will be forward mistakes as well as forward progress, just like anything else.

First, a couple of core principles that I feel like everyone should agree on. I know, good luck with that.

AI exists to help people, not to replace people.

In keeping with the above, you need to do some work: Yes, AI still hallucinates, and is in many ways the ultimate example of “garbage in, garbage out.” Again, it will only get better.

When successful, AI will save you time, save you money, or save you both time and money.

When successful, AI will enable capabilities that are often not possible otherwise.

Intent is the key to how we communicate with AI. That is, instead of using commanding-based user interfaces that require us to click a specific button or other item on a screen, our interactions with AI will involve natural language, spoken or typed, in which we describe an outcome. When successful, AI will figure out what we intend to do and then do that thing.

Memory is the key to personalizing an AI to our specific needs. Over time, AI will learn about the types of things we want and then remember to apply that learning for future interactions. This is essentially a new form of customization in that it happens automatically and over time.

These principles, like the AI use cases noted below, are by nature incomplete. This is a big topic, and many of these things will require follow-ups and more detail. I will forget things. Unlike AI, I’m human.

And before getting to what doesn’t work, the one thing in which the delta between hype and reality is the greatest.
What’s not there yet: AI agents
We’re being sold on AI agents that will “do things on our behalf,” and I’ve only half-jokingly retorted that there isn’t a single instance on this planet of that actually working. But the reality of AI and agents is that this requires a lot of work, and most of that work hasn’t even started yet.

I’ve described that work as “programmatic” apps and services because I wasn’t aware of a good term for it. The idea is that we have apps (in Windows, on mobile) and services (traditional online services and now AI agents and services), and the former, especially, have always been designed for direct interaction by people. But for AI agents to work seamlessly, these apps (and services) need to be accessible in more sophisticated ways, with purpose-built int...

The post When AI Works ⭐ appeared first on Thurrott.com.

The insights gained from Cybersecurity Awareness Month, right through to Microsoft Ignite 2025, demonstrate that security remains a top priority for business leaders. It serves as a strategic lever for organizational growth, fosters trust, and facilitates the advancement of AI innovation. The Work Trend Index 2025 indicates that over 80% of leaders are currently utilizing agents or plan to do so within the next 12 to 18 months. While AI introduces risks such as oversharing, data leakage, compliance gaps, and agent sprawl, business and security leaders can address these issues in part by: 

1. Preparing for the integration of AI and agents.
2. Strengthening training so that everyone has the necessary skills. 
3. Fostering a culture that prioritizes cybersecurity. 

Microsoft guide for securing the AI-powered enterprise

Preparing for the integration of AI and intelligent agents

Preparing for AI and agent integration calls for careful strategy, thoughtful business planning, and organization-wide adoption under solid governance, security, and management. Microsoft’s AI adoption model offers a step-by-step guide for businesses embarking on this journey and the guide offers actionable insights and solutions to manage AI risks.

Strengthening training so that everyone has the necessary skills

Technology alone isn’t enough. People are your strongest defense—and the foundation of trust. That’s why skilling emerged as a central theme throughout these past months and will continue beyond. Frontier Firms—those structured around on-demand intelligence and powered by “hybrid” teams of humans plus agents—lead by fostering a culture of continuous learning. Our blog “Building human-centric security skills for AI” offers insights and guidance you can apply in your organization.  

• Lean into your unique human strengths: Your team’s judgment, creativity, and experience are irreplaceable. Take time to invest in upskilling and reskilling them, so they can confidently guide and manage AI tools responsibly and securely. Explore Microsoft Learn for Organizations for resources to support your learning journey.
• Stay curious and agile through continuous learning: Building security resilience is an ongoing process. Regularly refresh your AI and security training, offer time and resources for employees to explore new skills, and create a supportive, engaging environment that motivates continuous growth. Find in AI Skills Navigator, our agentic learning space, AI and security training tailored to different roles.  

Investing in skilling doesn’t just reduce risk—it accelerates innovation by giving teams the confidence to explore new AI capabilities securely. 

Skilling is an ongoing practice that needs to constantly evolve alongside the business and technology landscape. Staying ahead requires an enterprise-wide strategy that aligns ever-changing business priorities with always-on skill-building. —Jeana Jorgensen, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Learning

Fostering a culture that prioritizes security

As AI impacts everyone’s role, make security awareness and responsible AI practices shared priorities. Encourage your team to weave security thinking into their daily routines—creating a safer environment for all. As Vasu Jakkal, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Security highlighted in her blog “Cybersecurity Awareness Month: Security starts with you,” it is critical that security become part of your organization’s culture and norms. 

Check out our new e-book, Skilling for Secure AI: How Frontier Firms Lead the Way for practical steps for leaders to upskill their workforce in identity management, data governance, and responsible AI practices.

From awareness to action

In the agentic AI era, people continue to be our most valuable resource. It’s essential to empower them with AI and equip them with the skills they need to use AI responsibly and securely. Cybersecurity awareness should go beyond designated months or campaigns; true awareness means taking meaningful action.   

Here are three actions you can take today to maximize your AI investments: 

1. Share the Be Cybersmart Kit with your employees. It includes tips for protecting yourself from fraud and deepfakes, guidance on safe AI usage, and key security best practices.
2. Invest in people: Focus on upskilling initiatives that support your AI transformation, cloud modernization, and security-first strategies.
3. Champion a security-first culture: Ensure cybersecurity is integral to every business discussion and woven into your overall strategy. 

The post From awareness to action: Building a security-first culture for the agentic AI era appeared first on Microsoft Security Blog.

We are excited to announce general availability of the SharePoint Framework (SPFx) 1.22 – with a focus on refreshing the build and toolchain areas. SharePoint Framework is the easiest and the most widely used model to build your enterprise solutions for Microsoft 365 with automatic single sign-on, automatic hosting and with industry standard web stack tooling. Key objective of the 1.22 release is to setup a new baseline to further accelerate investments for the SharePoint Framework across Microsoft 365 areas. We are thrilled to see the continuous interest on SPFx and continue providing updates on the roadmap with our monthly SPFx roadmap updates.

Your input and feedback have been invaluable to define the key features for our releases, both current and future. Thank you

You can find the full list of released details from the following documentation:

• SharePoint Framework 1.22 release notes

Key features in the 1.22 release

Key changes and updates in this release are as follows:

• Transitioning from Gulp-based toolchain to Heft-based toolchain.
  • Starting with SPFx v1.22, new projects use Heft as the build task orchestrator instead of a gulp-based toolchain used in SPFx v1.0 – v1.21.1 releases. This change represents a fundamental shift in how SPFx projects are built, configured, and customized, though the underlying bundling technology (webpack) remains the same.
  • See more details from following documentation: SharePoint Framework Toolchain: Heft & Webpack.

• Addressing npm audit issues in Yeoman package and on scaffolded solutions.
  • Previous versions of SPFx had npm audit reported issues, which have been all addressed with the 1.22 release. We are also working on updating the deprecated packages in upcoming versions.

• Updating default TypeScript version for the scaffolded projects to TypeScript v5.8

and more

You can see a live demo of the Heft based toolchain changes from the recording of the weekly Microsoft 365 & Power Platform community call on 25th of November. Specific SPFx 1.22 Heft tooling focused demo starts at 34:42.

Everyone is welcome to these weekly calls to stay up to date on the Microsoft 365 & Power Platform topics. See details on the community calls from https://aka.ms/community/calls.

Installing SharePoint Framework 1.22 

You can install SharePoint Framework 1.22 by using the following command which will install always the latest generally available version.

npm install @microsoft/generator-sharepoint@latest --global

What’s SharePoint Framework?

The SharePoint Framework (SPFx) is the leading extensibility model for Microsoft 365, powering custom solutions used by tens of millions of users every month across Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Viva, and SharePoint. SPFx enables developers, partners, and organizations to deliver tailored, high-value experiences that integrate seamlessly with the Microsoft 365 platform.

Designed around modern web standards and built for Microsoft 365’s multi-host ecosystem, SPFx provides a streamlined way to create solutions that are secure, reliable, and reusable – maximizing your development investment and accelerating time-to-value.

Whether you’re generating your first project with the SPFx Yeoman Generator or using the SharePoint Framework Toolkit, SPFx offers a consistent, flexible path to build and ship solutions across Microsoft 365 without rewriting your code for each surface.

Key capabilities of the SharePoint Framework for Microsoft 365 are the following:

• Build once, run everywhere – Use the same component across SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, and Viva without modifying your code. This cross-platform capability reduces development overhead and ensures a unified experience for end users.
• Zero-maintenance, automatic hosting – SPFx solutions are automatically hosted in SharePoint, eliminating infrastructure management and reducing operational cost. You focus on innovation – Microsoft 365 handles the hosting without extra cost.
• Seamless, Built-in Single Sign-On (SSO) – SPFx provides automatic SSO across Microsoft 365 experiences. No extra consent prompts, no additional configuration, and no security overhead for end users or admins.
• Content-driven, intelligent applications – Surface Microsoft 365 data via Microsoft Graph or integrate external systems to create rich, context-aware applications tightly aligned with organizational content and workflows.
• Powered by industry-standard web development – Built on modern web technologies: Node.js, npm, TypeScript, and your preferred JavaScript framework. SPFx avoids proprietary tooling and enables broad skillset reuse.
• Centralized governance and administration – Administrators can manage SPFx solutions from a central, unified interface, enabling streamlined deployment, consistent governance, and secure permission approval across Microsoft 365. This ensures organizations maintain full control over what solutions run in their environment and the data they can access.
• Built for enterprise scale – SPFx aligns with Microsoft 365’s security, compliance, and lifecycle management standards, making it ideal for enterprise-grade and partner-delivered solutions.

Additional resources and support

• • Please report any issues or feedback using following issue list – https://aka.ms/spfx/issues
    • We have engineering people monitoring any incoming issues and helping you to get unblocked or getting your questions answered.
  • Overview documentation
  • Getting started documentation
  • Build for Microsoft Teams using SharePoint Framework
  • Overview of Viva Connections Extensibility
  • Microsoft Learn – Extend Microsoft Viva Connections
  • SharePoint Framework Toolkit
  • CLI for Microsoft 365 – SharePoint Framework Upgrade tooling from previous versions to latest
  • SharePoint Framework web part samples
  • Viva Connections samples

If you are looking to build experiences for Microsoft 365, we strongly recommend joining our community calls and other Microsoft 365 & Power Platform Community activities covering Microsoft 365 Copilot, SharePoint, Power Platform, Microsoft Teams, Power Apps, Microsoft Viva, and more… More details here https://aka.ms/community/home

And, follow us on LinkedIn or in X to stay up to date on Microsoft 365 Platform announcements.

Happy coding! Sharing is caring! 

The post General Availability of SharePoint Framework 1.22 – A Major Refresh of the Build & Tooling Experience appeared first on Microsoft 365 Developer Blog.