The Shift: Your open questions about agents, honest discussions

S2E8 | How do we draw agentic borders? — The Shift Podcast by Microsoft Azure

As AI agents become more capable—and more autonomous—one question rises fast: How do we draw agentic borders? For many organizations, this is also a sovereignty question: what stays in-country, who can access it, and how do you enforce policy across systems and regions? In this episode of The Shift Podcast: Agentic Edition, leaders from Microsoft Azure explore the evolving boundaries between agents, humans, systems, and responsibility—and what it takes to keep trust and accountability as AI becomes more agentic. The conversation covers: What “agentic borders” mean in enterprise practice How to approach responsibility and oversight in agent systems How sovereignty requirements (data residency, jurisdiction, and access) shape agent design and deployment Why governance matters as agents move into real use What to consider when setting guardrails for agents An honest discussion on moving forward responsibly—while still building with speed and ambition. 👉 Read Microsoft Sovereign Cloud in Europe: https://aka.ms/MSFTSovereignCloudWhitepaper [https://aka.ms/MSFTSovereignCloudWhitepaper] 👉 Join the Tech Community: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/ [https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/] Get to know the team: Evelyn Ozzie https://www.linkedin.com/in/evelyn-ozzie-18062721/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/evelyn-ozzie-18062721/] Meena Gowdar https://www.linkedin.com/in/mjgowdar/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/mjgowdar/] Edouard de Cremiers https://www.linkedin.com/in/edouarddecremiers/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/edouarddecremiers/] Karim Batthish https://www.linkedin.com/in/karimondo/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/karimondo/] The Shift Podcast: Agentic Edition is a place for experts to share their insights and opinions. As students of the future of technology, Microsoft values inputs from a diverse set of voices. That said, the opinions and findings of our guests are their own and they may not necessarily reflect Microsoft's positions as a company. This episode of The Shift was recorded in February 2026. All information about products and offers is relevant to the time of recording. #TheShiftPodcast #ResponsibleAI #AgenticAI #DigitalGovernance #MicrosoftAzure #DigitalSovereignty

S2E7 | Should my IT team hire agents? — The Shift Podcast by Microsoft Azure

As AI agents move from experimentation into real-world operations, many IT leaders are asking a new kind of workforce question: Should your IT team hire agents? In this episode of The Shift Podcast: Agentic Edition, members of the Microsoft Azure team explore how agentic AI is beginning to reshape IT operations, cloud management, and the future of technical work. Agents are emerging as powerful collaborators alongside humans in the loop—augmenting teams, automating repetitive tasks, and enabling a more proactive approach to managing complex systems. This conversation digs into what agent adoption really looks like for IT organizations today, including: • How agents for IT automation are changing cloud operations. • Where trust, transparency, and control matter most in agentic systems. • What skills IT teams need as workflows shift from manual to autonomous. • How Azure Copilot and intelligent operations are influencing day to day IT work. You’ll also hear how organizations can thoughtfully introduce agents without creating black boxes—keeping humans in control while scaling operational efficiency. If you’re an IT leader, practitioner, or decision maker thinking about the future of cloud operations, modernization, or automation, this episode offers a grounded look at how agents fit into real enterprise environments. 👉 Download the whitepaper: Intelligent IT Operations: https://aka.ms/IntelligentITOpsAzure [https://aka.ms/IntelligentITOpsAzure] 👉 Join the Tech Community: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/ [https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/] #TheShiftPodcast #AgenticAI #ITAutomation #IntelligentOperations #AzureCopilot

S2E6 | Is Postgres the wave of the future? — The Shift Podcast by Microsoft Azure

Postgres has long been a favorite of developers—but is it also the right foundation for the next generation of AI applications and agentic systems? In this episode of The Shift Podcast: Agentic Edition, members of the Microsoft Azure Database team unpack a question we’re hearing more frequently as organizations build AI-driven applications: Is Postgres the wave of the future? The conversation explores how PostgreSQL databases are evolving to support modern workloads, including AI agents, cloud-native applications, and open-source innovation at scale. Our guests discuss what’s changing in the data layer as applications move from traditional CRUD systems to agent‑driven, context aware architectures—and why database choice matters more than ever for performance, flexibility, and speed to value. You’ll hear practical insights on: · How Postgres fits into today’s AI-ready database strategies. · What developers need from databases when supporting agents and generative AI. · The role of open-source databases in enterprise-scale AI adoption. · How Azure Database for PostgreSQL helps teams balance innovation with operational reliability. As with every episode of The Shift, this is an unscripted, honest discussion designed to cut through buzzwords and focus on what actually matters for builders and technical decision makers navigating an agentic future. 👉 Explore the Azure Database advantage: https://aka.ms/AppsAgentsPostgresSQL [https://aka.ms/AppsAgentsPostgresSQL] 👉 Join the conversation on Tech Community: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/ [https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/] Get to know the team: · Eric Hudson, Director Product Marketing https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-hudson-aa0a943/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-hudson-aa0a943/] · Marko Hotti, Senior Product Marketing Manager https://www.linkedin.com/in/marko-hotti-7656574/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/marko-hotti-7656574/] · Claire Giordano, Principal Group PM Manager https://www.linkedin.com/in/claireg/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/claireg/] · Abinav Rameesh, Principal PM Manager https://www.linkedin.com/in/abinavrameesh/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/abinavrameesh/] The Shift Podcast: Agentic Edition is a place for experts to share their insights and opinions. As students of the future of technology, Microsoft values inputs from a diverse set of voices. That said, the opinions and findings of our guests are their own and they may not necessarily reflect Microsoft's positions as a company. This episode of The Shift was recorded in February 2026. All information about products and offers is relevant to the time of recording.

S2E5 | What senses do agents need to act? — The Shift Podcast by Microsoft Azure

For AI agents to move from reasoning to action, they need more than text alone. But what “senses” actually matter? In this episode of The Shift Podcast: Agentic Edition, members of the Microsoft Foundry team discuss how multimodal inputs—such as text, vision, and speech—shape how agents perceive and interact with the world. The conversation explores what’s practical today, rather than assuming fully autonomous systems. The discussion covers: · Why multimodal AI expands what agents can understand. · How vision, voice, and text models are combined in applications. · The role of tools and APIs in enabling agent action. · Where modality adds value—and where it introduces complexity. Rather than framing modalities as future capabilities, the episode focuses on how teams are already working with them in real applications. This is an honest look at how agents sense, interpret, and respond—based on today’s tooling and constraints. 👉 Read the AI apps and agents e-book: https://aka.ms/AIAppsAgents [https://aka.ms/AIAppsAgents] 👉 Join the Tech Community: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/ [https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/] Get to know the team: · Ronak Chokshi, Director Product Marketing https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronakchokshi/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronakchokshi/] · Vinod Valloppillil, Partner Product Director https://www.linkedin.com/in/vinodvalloppillil/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/vinodvalloppillil/] · Linda Li, Product Manager II https://www.linkedin.com/in/zhuoqun-linda-li/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/zhuoqun-linda-li/] The Shift Podcast: Agentic Edition is a place for experts to share their insights and opinions. As students of the future of technology, Microsoft values inputs from a diverse set of voices. That said, the opinions and findings of our guests are their own and they may not necessarily reflect Microsoft's positions as a company. This episode of The Shift Podcast: Agentic Edition was recorded in February 2026. All information about products and offers is relevant to the time of recording. #MultimodalAI [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/multimodalai] #GenerativeAI [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/generativeai] #GenerativeAgents [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/generativeagents] #TheShiftPodcast #MultimodalAI #AIAgents #AgenticSystems #MicrosoftFoundry

S2E4 | Is context engineering the new RAG? — The Shift Podcast by Microsoft Azure

As retrieval augmented generation (RAG) matures, teams are asking a new question: Is context engineering becoming more important than RAG itself? In this episode of The Shift Podcast: Agentic Edition, members of the Microsoft Foundry team explore how context management, retrieval pipelines, and knowledge integration influence the quality of AI responses. The discussion doesn’t dismiss RAG—but examines how it’s evolving in more complex, enterprise scenarios. Topics include: · How context windows and retrieval strategies affect model behavior. · The role of vector databases, knowledge bases, and hybrid search. · Where reranking and filtering matter in practical systems. · Why context engineering is often iterative and application‑specific. Rather than promoting a replacement for RAG, the episode focuses on how teams are adapting retrieval approaches as applications and agents become more sophisticated. This is a grounded look at how context is handled today—without overstating what current systems can do. 👉 Read the AI apps and agents e-book: https://aka.ms/AIAppsandAgents [https://aka.ms/AIAppsandAgents] 👉 Join the Tech Community: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/ [https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/] Get to know the team: · Allison Sparrow, Director Product Marketing https://www.linkedin.com/in/allisonsparrow/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/allisonsparrow/] · Pamela Fox, Principal Cloud Advocate https://www.linkedin.com/in/pamela-s-fox/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/pamela-s-fox/] · Matt Gotteiner, Senior Program Manager https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattgotteiner/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattgotteiner/] The Shift Podcast: Agentic Edition is a place for experts to share their insights and opinions. As students of the future of technology, Microsoft values inputs from a diverse set of voices. That said, the opinions and findings of our guests are their own and they may not necessarily reflect Microsoft's positions as a company. This episode of The Shift was recorded in February 2026. All information about products and offers is relevant to the time of recording. #TheShiftPodcast #ContextEngineering #RAG #EnterpriseAI #KnowledgeRetrieval