Inside Microsoft’s Project Solara: A new platform for devices that run AI agents instead of apps

[Editor’s Note: Agents of Transformation is an independent GeekWire series, underwritten by Accenture, exploring the adoption and impact of AI and agents. See coverage of our related event.]

A team inside Microsoft has been quietly building a platform for devices that run AI agents instead of apps, based on Android instead of Windows, with two working hardware designs so far, and an initial set of big-name companies lined up to run pilots.

The platform, dubbed “Project Solara,” is Microsoft’s bet that AI will open up entirely new scenarios for computing — using agents to avoid the constraints of traditional software, and off‑the‑shelf components to develop new devices quickly and inexpensively.

Microsoft is racing against Google, Amazon, OpenAI and others to bring AI to devices and provide…