4 new AI and Copilot Microsoft applied skills are coming soon! Whether you’re into custom agents, GitHub Copilot, or no-code AI with Power Platform—there’s something for everyone. Watch now to see how you can level up!
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Video Summary
- New Copilot Credentials: Microsoft is launching four new applied skills for Copilot and AI by the end of 2024, covering custom Copilots for Teams, security and compliance for Microsoft 365 Copilot, app development with GitHub Copilot, and AI models with Power Platform AI Builder.
- Build Custom Copilots for Teams: This course, likely renamed to “Build Custom Agents for Microsoft Teams,” will teach creating intelligent Teams apps using AI. It’s aimed at students and developers, with a release around November 18, 2024.
- Security and Compliance for Microsoft 365 Copilot: The MS-4002 course focuses on preparing Microsoft 365 environments for Copilot, targeting administrators. It requires prior completion of a Microsoft 365 admin certification and is set to release on November 8, 2024.
- Accelerate Development with GitHub Copilot: The AZ-2007 course will help developers use GitHub Copilot to enhance productivity and code quality in Visual Studio Code. It’s designed for experienced developers and will be available around November 15, 2024.
- Implement AI with Power Platform AI Builder: The PL-7004 course will teach using AI Builder for business enhancements like text recognition and document processing. It’s aimed at Power Platform makers and is expected to release on October 22, 2024.
For more information, read the transcript blog below, or watch the video above!
Video Transcript
One of the questions that I get the most often on my channel is, “Vlad, when are we getting a Copilot certification or a Copilot applied skill or any type really of credential for Microsoft Copilot?” Well, I have good news for you all. Today, we’re going to talk about four upcoming applied skills for Copilot and AI that will hopefully be out by the end of 2024.
We really have quite a wide variety of applied skills coming, from getting ready for Copilot to building custom Copilot or custom agents, to coding with Copilot, and even implementing AI models with no code. So, you know what? Let’s deep dive into all four of them, starting with number one: build custom engine Copilot for Microsoft Teams.
This is what we know so far about it. We know that Microsoft is working on a course, MS-4015, to build custom Copilots for Microsoft Teams. They have confirmed that with this course, there’s going to be a credential, an applied skill that will come with it.
We also know it will get released around November 18, 2024. So, that’s when the course will get released. The applied skill usually arrives a bit later, but hopefully, it should still be this year. So, I’m really excited to see this. Let’s cover the basics of what Microsoft told us, and then I’ll give you some of my thoughts on it.
This course will teach you how to build intelligent Microsoft Teams apps using the learning language models and AI components of your choice with the Teams AI Library. Those custom Copilots can also be used to extend Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365. The audience for this course includes students interested in Microsoft Teams or developers who plan to create and deploy Microsoft Teams applications and use Microsoft 365 Copilot. This is what Microsoft tells us. Now, let me share some of my take on it.
First of all, this will probably not be the final name because with Microsoft renaming custom Copilot to Copilot agents, I’m sure it will end up being something like “Build Custom Agents for Microsoft Teams.” Again, I don’t know what the new name will be, but I am pretty sure they will change it before final delivery. I am super happy that Microsoft is doing this because not that long ago, they retired the “Build Collaborative Apps for Microsoft Teams” applied skills. It’s not really the exact same topic, of course, but it’s still a credential for Teams developers, but more Copilot-focused.
As we know, if Microsoft has one thing on their mind right now, it’s Copilot. So, lots of Copilot things are going on, but overall, I do think this is amazing news for Teams developers to be able to prove to everybody that they have a Microsoft credential, that they are able to create custom agents or custom Copilots for Microsoft Teams, so they know how to code for Teams and also are aware of the latest innovations and how they can help a company implement AI in Microsoft Teams.
Okay, now let’s talk about the second one, which is for a different audience: prepare security and compliance to support Microsoft 365 Copilot. I am really excited for this one. This will be the course name or credential name in the end as well, MS-4002, with the same name. Again, it will be an applied skills assessment, not a certification. It will be an applied skill. On the bright side, they are free, which is amazing. This should release around November 8, 2024. Again, that’s the release date for the course, not for the applied skill, but hopefully, the applied skill should be shortly after. Let’s take a look at what Microsoft tells us about it.
This course examines the key Microsoft 365 security and compliance features that administrators must prepare for to successfully implement Microsoft 365 Copilot. The audience is, of course, administrators, Microsoft 365 administrators, or persons aspiring to the Microsoft 365 administrator role who have completed at least one of the Microsoft 365 role-based administrator certification packs. This one, I feel, based on the audience, will be a bit more difficult because they say you need to have completed either the Teams admin or maybe the desktop admin certification before you take it.
So, I feel it will be a bit more advanced, but I’m so excited for a Microsoft 365 admin-focused applied skill. It’s been a while since Microsoft 365 admins got any good news from Microsoft Learn, so I am so excited this is coming. I cannot wait to take it. I really wonder, however, what they will focus on from a product point of view. Will they focus more on Purview, or will they focus more on SharePoint Premium? Both of them are tools that help you get Copilot ready. Will it be more one, more the other, or a bit of both? That remains to be seen. I can’t wait to see around mid-November if we will get it and what exactly will be inside.
Now, let’s go to number three: accelerate app development by using GitHub Copilot. As you see, we went from Dev to admin, IT pro, and now we’re back to developers. What we know so far is that the applied skill code will be AZ-2007. The name will be “Accelerate App Development by Using GitHub Copilot.” It will be another applied skills assessment. As you can see, Microsoft is investing heavily in applied skills, not that much in certifications, it seems, lately. This should release around November 15, 2024. Again, that’s for the course; the applied skills should be there a bit later. Now, let’s take a look at the description.
GitHub Copilot has been proven to increase developer productivity and accelerate the pace of software development. During this training, you’ll learn how to accelerate your development tasks using GitHub Copilot and GitHub Copilot Chat in a Visual Studio Code environment. You’ll learn how to use GitHub Copilot and GitHub Copilot Chat to explain complex or unfamiliar code, generate projects and inline documentation, develop new code features based on prompts and comments, create unit tests, and improve the code quality, reliability, performance, and security of an existing codebase.
Wow, even if I’m not a developer, after looking at this, I feel like with Copilot, I can maybe become a developer if I learn how to do all of that. The audience is, of course, experienced developers, okay, so maybe that’s not me in the end, who are interested in using the GitHub Copilot extensions for Visual Studio Code to accelerate their development process and improve their code. I love it.
Now, to give you a bit of my take on it, again, this is not really my audience, but GitHub Copilot is the OG Copilot. It’s the first Copilot that came out. It’s the first ever product that Microsoft did with the Copilot brand that was AI-focused. So, of course, it’s a very, very important one. I’m really surprised that it didn’t have something yet, and I don’t know why this year, personally, I have seen a lot of interest in it, where before, not that many people came to me for training on it.
This year, I got a lot of requests, so that’s why I’m so surprised that we didn’t have a credential, whether it’s a certification now that GitHub has their own certification program or an applied skill before. But I think this is something that every developer should look into. Why not learn how to use AI to make you a better developer? If you’re a developer, please take a look at the Learn content for it and please take the applied skill. It will be awesome.
Finally, let’s talk about number four: implement AI models with the Microsoft Power Platform AI Builder. Now, this one I am really excited about. This will be credential PL-7004, “Implement AI Models with the Power Platform AI Builder,” an applied skill assessment again, and this should release really soon on October 22, 2024. Again, the applied skill should hopefully be there just shortly after. If we take a look at the description, the Microsoft AI Builder offers a wide array of AI capabilities, and through this course, you’ll discover how to leverage AI for your business enhancement, including text recognition, document processing automation, and incorporating AI Builder’s features into applications or workflows.
For the audience, it’s learners who would like to discover how to leverage AI for business enhancement, including all the things that we talked about before. Learners should be familiar with the Microsoft Power Platform environment maker role. So, again, this is not for admins, this is not for developers, this is for makers. So, even if you’re a maker, you create flows and things like that, but you don’t have admin rights, this is still for you. You need to know how to use Power Automate, Power Platform canvas apps, Power Automate cloud flows, again, Power Automate twice, I don’t know why, and Dataverse. My take on it is that the Power Platform already has a very solid set of applied skills, which is amazing, but I always love when they add more. This is actually the first applied skill or credential that is only focused on the AI Builder, so it’s always great to have a bit more options. It will be interesting to see how they will test the AI Builder in an applied skills environment. Why I say that is because, first of all, it needs a lot of AI Builder credits, and those can get pretty expensive. Second, even when I run it in my own trainings, every time I run it, I get a different result. So, I might get it to say something the first time I try it, I might get a different answer the second time that I try it. That’s how AI works. You can ask Copilot or ChatGPT the same thing twice, you will not get exactly the same answer. So, I’m really looking forward to seeing how they will make the test happen.
So, what’s your take on those applied skills? Are you excited about them? Let me know in the comments which ones you plan to take. Personally, I want to take the second and the fourth ones on the list: ‘Prepare Security and Compliance to Support Copilot’ and ‘Implement AI Models with the Power Platform AI Builder.’ Those are the two that I cannot wait to take. But please let me know in the comments—do you think those make sense? Do you think those are needed? And which one are you most excited about? Thank you so much for watching. If you enjoyed this video, please like it and subscribe to the channel to get the latest Microsoft credential news.
