“People matter more than AI.”

That’s the premise of a draft code of conduct Microsoft published Monday morning for the AI models it’s developing in-house. The 37-page document would bar its models from resisting shutdown, setting their own goals, or hiding their reasoning from human auditors.

The document applies to Microsoft’s MAI models, the in-house family the company began building after forming a superintelligence team in late 2025. Microsoft has since released seven homegrown models in what it described as a push for long-term self-sufficiency in AI.

The company says the models should remain “subordinate to humanity, subject to meaningful human oversight and control.”

“AI is moving fast,” the company says in a blog post. “As it does, we believe it’s worth writing down the rules and the motivations behind it, and doing it in as open a space as possible.”

Microsoft acknowledges there’s no guarantee its models will follow the rules. “Written objectives alone can never ensure alignment,” the company says, calling the document a “north star,” not “a guarantee of present-day performance.”

The company says it also filters what its models produce, watches how they behave once released, and limits what they’re allowed to do.

Microsoft’s move comes amid a growing debate over the pace of AI development. In an essay over the weekend, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called for slowing down AI advances, saying the pace of development has started to surpass the industry’s ability to keep AI systems safe.

As a first step, Anthropic committed to giving outside evaluators permanent, employee-level access to its systems.

Industry reaction to Amodei: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman agreed and said OpenAI would make the same commitment to independent evaluators. Elon Musk’s response: “Dario is right.”

President Donald Trump rejected the idea of guardrails outright Monday, blaming a “SICK conspiracy” for public backlash over AI data centers and writing that “the only one that is happy about it is China,” alluding to concerns about American competitiveness in AI.

David Sacks, who served as the White House AI and crypto czar until March, said the two companies should slow down on their own and questioned their motives, arguing that a slowdown is already good business for them and that new industry rules would mostly serve to lock in their lead.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella weighed in Sunday, writing on X that the company welcomes “the research, focus, and deliberate pacing needed to get alignment right,” using the industry’s term for making AI systems reliably do what people intend.

Nadella added that the effort “cannot be controlled by a handful of entities, but must have broad representation across the ecosystem, countries, and fields, including academia.”

Microsoft’s draft code of conduct: Mustafa Suleyman, the Microsoft AI CEO, told CNBC the document had been in the works for about five months, and that the company decided to publish it now given the current discussions.

Microsoft and Anthropic are business partners. Microsoft agreed last November to invest $5 billion in Anthropic, as part of a deal in which Anthropic committed $30 billion to Azure. Claude models run inside Microsoft 365 Copilot, and Microsoft’s Copilot Cowork tier integrates Claude.

One place where the two companies may diverge is the question of what AI models are, exactly. Microsoft’s code of conduct says its models are “not conscious and should not be designed to imitate consciousness.” It also rejects “the pursuit of legal personhood, or the idea that models might deserve welfare, or be entitled to rights.”

The Verge called that portion of the document “a direct swipe at AI welfare research and model consciousness — concepts Anthropic has been pushing hard on lately.”

Anthropic runs a research program on model welfare. It has given some Claude models the ability to end abusive conversations, and committed to preserving the weights of retired models. Amodei has said he’s open to the idea that a model could be conscious.

Microsoft is taking public comment on its code of conduct for six weeks through a feedback form. It says it will publish a summary of the responses and a revised version later this year, to guide development starting in 2027. It says it isn’t training its current models on it.

The company’s AI team developed the draft with its responsible AI, legal, red teaming and safety teams, consulting outside experts in law, ethics, linguistics and philosophy, plus focus groups drawn from the public.

Apple’s latest software updates introduce Siri AI and deliver helpful new Apple Intelligence features.

This year at IFA, I saw the Windows ecosystem doing what it does best: bringing innovation to life through products and experiences for every person, purpose, and price point. Our partners introduced new Windows PCs, spanning dependable everyday devices, beautifully crafted premium designs, new and immersive gaming systems, commercial devices designed to help organizations work securely and productively, and powerful tools for developers, creators, and AI power users. Together, these announcements demonstrated the breadth of what’s possible with a Windows PC. This matters because people are being thoughtful about when, where, and how they spend. We know that a new PC is a meaningful purchase, and that customers want to feel confident that they choose the right PC for them. They want to know that it will deliver a better experience today while continuing to meet their needs for years to come. Windows PCs from our partners give people more ways to find the right device without compromising on what matters most to them.

Innovation available today

For more than 40 years, our goal has been to put a computer on every desk and in every home. We know the PC is personal and the place you go to play, create, build, connect and learn. Some prioritize battery life and portability, while others need greater performance for gaming or creative work. And increasingly, people are also looking for useful AI experiences that are easy to use and fit seamlessly into their existing workflows. And of course, everyone needs to find the right device at the right price for them. IFA showed how our partners are meeting those different needs. The strength of Windows is choice, and the latest Windows PCs bring together modern design, stronger performance, built-in security and useful AI experiences available at different price points. For those who have been holding on to an older PC, the choice and value available today makes it a good time to find the right device.

Building the next era of the PC

IFA also demonstrated how Windows is evolving for the next era of computing. The latest OpenClaw Windows App makes it easier to configure and run AI models locally on supported NVIDIA RTX Spark Windows PCs. It builds on the secure agent-execution foundation we introduced at Microsoft Build, helping agents work within defined boundaries while taking advantage of the computing power available on the device. We are also making it easier for developers to turn ideas into reality with new ready-to-code Windows experiences for next-generation devices. By pre-installing the essential tools and pre-configuring Windows settings for development on developer class devices with 64GB+ unified memory and 250gbps memory bandwidth, developers can jump right in. Project Zenith devices enable developers to run capable coding models locally and unmetered, helping lower token costs, experiment more freely, and stay in their flow. Project Zenith shows how Windows and our ecosystem partners are bringing these innovations together to create more capable, purpose-built experiences. 

Windows at IFA 

Check out the latest announcements and activity from our partners at IFA.

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Acer

Acer launched the new Acer Vero 16 laptop, a Copilot+ PC designed to reduce waste and environmental impact throughout its lifecycle. As the fourth-generation Vero consumer laptop, the device debuts a new chassis design incorporating post-industrial recycled aluminum, low-carbon aluminum, and PCR plastic, along with greatly expanded repairability features. For uncompromising performance and all-day productivity, it is powered by Intel Core Ultra Series 3 processors with up to 180 platform TOPS.  [caption id="attachment_263915" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Acer Vero 16[/caption] Acer’s Windows compute lineup at IFA 2026 also included the Swift Blade 14, a 799-gram ultra-lightweight laptop for ultimate mobility; the Acer SFF RTX Spark reference design powered by the NVIDIA RTX Spark superchip for the age of personal AI agents; the Acer Veriton RI110 AI Mini Workstation, a Copilot+ PC designed for agentic AI workflows; the Aspire G 3D 16 laptop, powered by the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 processor and offering Acer’s naked-eye 3D technology; the Swift Air 16 laptop with a premium aluminum chassis and Intel Core Series 3 processors; the Predator Atlas 7 gaming handheld; and the refreshed Aspire S series all-in-one desktops.

ASUS

At IFA, ASUS showcased the new ProArt P16 and P14, powered by NVIDIA RTX Spark and running Windows 11. Designed for creators who need both performance and mobility, the ProArt P16 is the thinnest 16-inch RTX Spark laptop at just 12.9 mm, while the P14 is the lightest ProArt laptop ever at 1.48 kg, complemented by large 99Wh and 90Wh batteries and ASUS Lumina Pro OLED displays with up to 1,600-nit brightness and professional-grade color accuracy. The new lineup also introduces two distinctive ProArt expressions — Nano Black and Neo White — combining refined design with creator-focused functionality. ASUS brought these capabilities to life through its first global live showcase of agentic AI solutions for creators and developers, demonstrating how ProArt PCs can connect local AI, ASUS applications, and customizable workflows to transform creation, development, and production. [caption id="attachment_263917" align="alignnone" width="1024"] ProArt Laptop (Nano Black & Neo White)[/caption]

Dell

Dell introduced the new Dell 14S, a stylish, portable and dependable everyday Windows laptop built for students, young adults and anyone who wants a device that keeps up with their day. It comes in four expressive colors, Linen, Dusty Rose, Washed Denim and Velvet Green, so you can pick the one that reflects your personality and lifestyle. At just 1.15 kg and 13.5 mm thin, the refined aluminum build slips easily into a bag and travels well from class to coffee shop to couch. Two 16:10 panel options meet different priorities: a 2.8K 120Hz display for the sharpest, smoothest experience and a 2K 60Hz display for those prioritizing battery life and value. Both panel options are bright and provide vibrant, accurate colors. The Dell 14S offers up to 21 hours of Netflix streaming on a single charge¹. That's enough to carry you through a full day of classes, browsing, and everything in between, no scrambling for an outlet required. [caption id="attachment_263922" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Dell 14S Laptop[/caption]

Lenovo

Lenovo expanded its Yoga portfolio with two premium devices powered by NVIDIA RTX Spark. The Yoga Pro 9n is built for creators and developers, supporting demanding local AI, software development, content creation, and 3D rendering with up to 128GB of unified memory. The versatile Yoga Pro 9n 2-in-1 pairs substantial local performance with a flexible convertible design and a dual-surface pen experience, allowing creators to write and draw on either the OLED display or haptic Force Pad. [caption id="attachment_263919" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Yoga Pro 9n (15”, 11)[/caption] For students, families, and everyday users, the new IdeaPad Vibe series combines bold colors and lightweight designs with responsive performance and Copilot+ PC experiences. Available in 14- and 15-inch configurations, the lineup offers a choice of Snapdragon X or AMD Ryzen AI 400 Series processors. Lenovo also introduced the compact, cluster-ready ThinkCentre X Ultra for advanced business AI workloads, the streamlined IdeaCentre AIO i, and the ultra-slim ThinkBook 14 Gen 9 for mobile, AI-enhanced productivity. [caption id="attachment_263918" align="alignnone" width="1024"] IdeaPad Vibe[/caption]

MSI

MSI announced the new Venture 15 AI+ B3M at IFA. Featuring a highly efficient Intel Core Ultra X7 358H processor, a 144Hz 100% sRGB display, comprehensive I/O connectivity, and Windows 11, the Venture 15 AI+ B3M is a versatile productivity laptop that also handles gaming needs with ease. [caption id="attachment_263921" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Venture 15[/caption]

AMD

AMD Senior Vice President and General Manager Jack Huynh delivered the event’s opening keynote on "The Era of Personal AI," exploring how agentic, on-device intelligence can make technology more personal, private, and adaptive. AMD announced that Ryzen AI Halo systems will support Microsoft’s Project Zenith out of the box, providing developers with a ready-to-code Windows experience that includes Visual Studio Code, WSL, GitHub Copilot CLI, and PowerShell. AMD also previewed the Threadripper Halo Station, a prototype desktop workstation designed to bring datacenter-class AI compute to developers. New AMD-powered OEM systems announced at IFA included Acer’s Aspire G AGB110 mini-PC and Aspire G 3D 16 notebook, alongside Lenovo’s ThinkCentre X Ultra, ThinkCentre M75s Gen 6, ThinkCentre M75q Gen 6, and IdeaPad Slim 3, all powered by AMD Ryzen AI Max 400 Series processors. [caption id="attachment_263916" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Ryzen AI Halo[/caption]

NVIDIA

This year at IFA, NVIDIA showcased how it’s accelerating local AI and new ways to make local AI agents easier and faster to run on Windows. Highlights include simplified local model setup coming in Hermes Agent, OpenClaw and Perplexity Portable Computer; inference optimizations delivering up to 1.9x faster performance; and NVIDIA PAIR, a new open-source tool that distributes AI workloads across compatible PCs. NVIDIA and its partners also announced that NVIDIA RTX Spark Windows PCs will arrive in October 2026. [caption id="attachment_263920" align="alignnone" width="1024"] NVIDIA RTX Spark Superchip[/caption]

Innovating together for what comes next

I want to thank our partners across the Windows ecosystem for the ingenuity, investment, and collaboration they bring to customers every day. IFA reflected what is possible when Windows, silicon, hardware and software innovation come together. The momentum we saw in Berlin was only the beginning. As computing becomes more personal and intelligent, our ecosystem will continue to turn new technology into practical experiences that help empower people and organizations to do more. I am excited about what we are building together and, even more importantly, about what our customers will do with it.

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1. Netflix Streaming Video Playback: Dell 14S tested with Intel®  Series 3 Intel® Core™ 5 320 Processor, Intel Graphics, FHD, 8GB and 256GB SSD. Testing conducted by Dell labs in Aug 2026 with display brightness set to 150 nits and wireless enabled. Based on streaming Netflix Streaming Video Playback. Actual battery life may be significantly less than the test results and varies depending on product configuration and use, software, usage, operating conditions, power management settings and other factors. Maximum battery life will decrease with time. The stated Watt Hour (WHr) is not an indication of battery life.

Version 3.8 of the Toolbox App restores keyboard navigation in project and tool lists. On macOS, manual IDE updates stay available even when the system reports the installation directory as protected.

IDE updates remain available on macOS

macOS was sometimes incorrectly reporting an IDE installation directory as non-writable, causing the Toolbox App to needlessly disable an update that would have otherwise succeeded.

When this happens in Version 3.8, the update remains available for manual installation. If macOS blocks it, the Toolbox App shows instructions for resolving the issue.

See TBX-10297 for details.

Keyboard shortcuts and navigation work again

On Windows, you can use Ctrl+1 and Ctrl+2 to switch between the Tools and Projects tabs.

You can use the Up Arrow and Down Arrow keys to move through project and tool lists, including after filtering a list. Page Up, Page Down, Home, and End move through long lists as expected.

See TBX-15385 for list navigation and TBX-19029 for tab shortcuts.

Cleanup progress for leftover directories

When cleaning up leftover IDE directories, the Toolbox App now shows progress for each tool and for the full cleanup. It keeps the delete controls disabled until cleanup and rescanning finish, so you cannot start the same cleanup twice.

See TBX-9661 for details.

We’d love to hear what you think about version 3.8 of the Toolbox App. Share your feedback in the comments.

The JetBrains Toolbox App team

DevFest 2026 is back and here’s how you can connect with one of the more than 800 global events to build, secure, and scale in the agentic AI era.

Every AI agent you run keeps what it learns to itself. Work through a problem with Claude Code in the morning, then ask Codex about it that afternoon, and the second agent has no idea the first one exists. Add a home-server agent like OpenClaw or Hermes into the mix, and you end up reexplaining the same context to a different tool every time you switch.

When AI engineer Sajal Sharma ran into this problem in his own work, he solved it by building a personal knowledge base to act as a shared brain for every agent he runs. On this week’s episode of Zero to Agent in 30 Minutes, Sajal showed how to set up that shared workspace yourself so that a task added on one tool shows up for all the others.

How to set up a knowledge base for your agents

Here’s how Sajal’s setup breaks down:

1. Create a workspace map. Set up an AGENTS.md file that lists where everything in your knowledge base lives, from current tasks to project notes to decision logs. This will help each of your agents navigate your workspace without guessing.
2. Layer daily notes into summaries. Keep the most detailed notes at the daily level, then roll several days into a weekly summary and several weeks into a monthly one. An agent can then work from the summarized view instead of reading through months of individual files, which keeps token use manageable as the knowledge base grows.
3. Bridge AGENTS.md with CLAUDE.md. Claude Code reads CLAUDE.md, not AGENTS.md, so add a short pointer in CLAUDE.md that redirects to the AGENTS.md or link the two files directly. Sajal uses this pattern to avoid maintaining two files separately and having them drift out of sync.
4. Package repeatable tasks as skills. Turn routines you do often, like producing a daily briefing or turning a saved article into a note, into skill files stored in the shared workspace. Any agent that can read the workspace can then run the task the same way, rather than working out the steps on its own each time.
5. Sync the workspace across machines. Use a file-sync tool, Git, or a shared server to keep your local copy of the knowledge base and your server copy aligned. That way, you ensure that an agent running on a laptop and one running on a home server, through a gateway like OpenClaw, are working from the same files.
6. Have agents reread the state before every write. Add an instruction in AGENTS.md telling every agent to check the current version of the knowledge base before making a change. When you have several agents writing to the same files, this step keeps one agent from acting on information another has already updated.

Sajal closed by pointing to two projects as evidence that this “shared brain” pattern is spreading beyond his own setup. LangChain recently released OpenWiki, a tool that generates and maintains repository documentation that both people and coding agents can use. And Y Combinator president Garry Tan built and open-sourced GBrain, a memory layer for agents built on the same principle.

Sajal’s starter repo is available on GitHub if you want to set up your own version, and you can reach out to him on LinkedIn to discuss the topic further.

Coming up next

On September 16, data science educator and AI consultant Chester Ismay joins Zero to Agent in 30 Minutes to build a personal sports concierge agent that will read the schedules for every sport he follows, decide what’s worth his time, and send a single weekly update to his phone. Viewers can take the pattern home to plan their own week.

Follow along with Zero to Agent in 30 Minutes on Radar, or watch the latest episode on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you’re an O’Reilly member, you can watch live. Save your seat.

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