The APL-7004 “Implement AI Models with AI Builder” Applied Skill is being retired… and it didn’t even last a year.
In this video, I break down what’s happening, what it means for your Microsoft credentials, and whether this is the beginning of the end for AI Builder—or just a shift toward something new.
✅ Still time to take it (for free) before July 31, 2025
💡 Why Microsoft isn’t replacing it
📉 Why it was removed from PL-900
📈 What the roadmap tells us about the future of AI Builder
🧠 How Microsoft is transitioning from machine learning to large language models (LLMs)
🤖 Where Copilot Studio and autonomous agents fit in
If you were planning to take this skill, now is the time. And if you’re wondering what happens next for AI automation in the Microsoft ecosystem—this video is for you.
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Video Summary
- APL-704 is being retired on July 31, 2025, less than a year after launch. It’s free, so if you’ve been meaning to take it—now’s the time. Even if you don’t pass, there’s nothing to lose.
- No replacement is coming for this applied skill. Microsoft is shifting focus to Copilot Studio, where AI Builder capabilities are now integrated—especially for document processing with autonomous agents.
- AI Builder isn’t going away, but it is evolving. While it’s being removed from certifications like PL-900, Microsoft is still investing in it with over 10 new features planned in the 2025 release wave 1.
- The tech is shifting from machine learning to large language models (LLMs). That means no more training models—just use prompts. It’s the same powerful tech behind Copilot.
- Document processing is getting smarter and easier with the new Copilot Studio Document Processing Agent, now in public preview. It’s faster, more intuitive, and doesn’t require training data.
For more information, read the transcript blog below, or watch the video above!
Transcript
Hello everyone from the world of Microsoft credentials! Today, I have some news about the APL-704 “Implement AI Models with Microsoft AI Builder” applied skill—and unfortunately, it’s not good news. This applied skill is being retired, and it hasn’t even been 12 months since it launched. I was looking at my YouTube channel and saw that I talked about this applied skill being launched in November 2024. Microsoft has now announced that it will retire on July 31, 2025—so it didn’t even last a full year.
Let me start this video by covering what this applied skill is, and then in the second part, I want to take a step back and ask: Is this the end of AI Builder? Is it still something we need? But first, let’s talk about the retirement of the applied skill.
Remember, applied skills are free. So if you’re thinking about taking this one, do it now before it retires. You still have a few weeks left. Worst case, if you fail, it didn’t cost you anything, so go ahead and try it out. You have until July 31, 2025. Also, keep in mind that applied skills don’t expire. It will show up as an active credential for two years after retirement, and then it will move to your historical credentials. But even after that, it will always be on your transcript.
I wish it wasn’t being retired, but Microsoft made the decision, and there’s not much we can do about it. If this credential was on your to-do list and you kept pushing it off, now is the time to act.
Now, let’s talk about the reason behind the retirement, because I found it interesting. Microsoft said that since AI Builder capabilities are now integrated into Microsoft Copilot Studio, learners can automate document processing more efficiently using autonomous agents. There are no replacement courses planned—Microsoft is essentially throwing in the towel and not replacing this applied skill with anything else. They even provided a link to the new document processing agent, which, interestingly enough, still uses AI Builder.
This got me thinking: is this the end of AI Builder as a technology? Is there any future left for it? You might think I’m jumping to conclusions, but let me explain. First, AI Builder has been removed as a topic from the PL-900 Power Platform Fundamentals certification. Microsoft has said it’s no longer something people need to know for that exam. Second, the APL-704 applied skill is being retired. And third, SharePoint’s Content AI is moving away from using AI Builder models. I even pulled a slide from the recent Microsoft 365 Community Conference that shows the shift. The past generation used AI Builder models, but the next generation is all about LLM-based features like autofill columns.
So, my initial reaction was: “Wow, is Microsoft killing AI Builder?” But then I dug deeper. I looked at Microsoft’s roadmap and found that there are actually over 10 features planned for AI Builder in the 2025 Release Wave 1. That’s a lot of investment for something that’s supposedly being phased out.
So why is it being labeled as “past generation,” and why retire the applied skill? I think I found a good answer. AI Builder was first announced on June 10, 2019, by Charles Lamanna. Back then, AI wasn’t what it is today. AI Builder was based on machine learning models that required training. You had to feed it five, ten, or even fifty documents and tell it where to find the invoice number, for example. It was all machine learning.
Then, in November 2022, ChatGPT was launched, and everything changed. Unlike traditional machine learning, ChatGPT is based on large language models (LLMs), which represent a new generation of AI. These models don’t need training in the same way. They already understand documents and language. You can just say, “Give me the invoice ID,” and it knows what to do.
This shift allows Microsoft to focus on one back-end technology—LLMs—rather than investing in both LLMs and machine learning. Document processing, which was a major use case for AI Builder, is now handled through Copilot prompts. You simply run a prompt and get the answer. Microsoft is even enhancing this with the Copilot Studio Document Processing Agent, which entered public preview in June 2025 at the European Power Platform Conference in Vienna.
So, to wrap this up: yes, the applied skill is retiring, and Microsoft won’t be creating a new course or credential around AI Builder. It’s taking a backseat in terms of certifications. However, from a technology standpoint, AI Builder is still very much alive. It’s just evolving. The machine learning models of the past are being replaced by LLM-based models—the new way of doing AI. We’ll continue to use AI Builder in Copilot Studio, create prompts, and even choose which models our agents use for document processing.
That’s it for this video—just under 10 minutes where we covered the retirement of the APL-704 certification. If you’re watching this before July 31, go ahead and take the exam. Even if you haven’t fully studied, if you know what AI Builder is, give it a shot. After July 31, it won’t be available anymore.
From a tech perspective, I walked you through my thought process—from thinking AI Builder was going away to realizing it’s just the underlying technology that’s changing. And that’s a good thing.
If you enjoyed this video, make sure to like it and subscribe to the channel so you’re always up to date on the latest Microsoft credential news—whether it’s new certifications, retiring ones, or other updates. And on your screen right now, you’ll see some other videos that the YouTube algorithm thinks you’ll love—so check them out!
