AI Agent & Copilot Podcast: Developers, End-Users, and the Impact of AI
In this episode of the AI Agent & Copilot Podcast, Shawn Dorward, Vice President, sa.global, UG Expert, discusses the status of product and app development using Copilot and the impact it has on end-users and developers.
This episode is sponsored by the AI Agent & Copilot Summit NA, taking place March 17-19, 2026 in San Diego, California.
Key Takeaways
- Overview: Today, in the realm of development (code, product, or application development), the journey with Copilot Studio is akin to building a Power App with the assistance of Copilot, which can be empowering for many end-users.
- End-user empowerment: While low-code and no-code tools like Power Apps empower end-users to build simple applications, creating more complex apps with multiple pages, diverse user interfaces, and connected services requires expertise. This can lead to challenges such as lack of control, regulations, and awareness within the organization, which raises questions about the impact of such “empowerment.”
- Human vs. programming language: At last month’s AI Agent and Copilot Summit, it was suggested that in the future, the most common development language will be the spoken or human language. Instead of traditional programming languages, people will be able to describe their requirements in natural language, and AI will build the applications for them.
- Role of developers: Copilot and AI are empowering both citizen developers and professional developers, raising concerns about job security among developers. Though AI is not yet fully replacing developer roles, it enables everyone, from senior developers to beginners, to create applications.
- Troubleshooting: While AI might be able to make changes to code, there are concerns about its awareness of the effects on the rest of the application. Troubleshooting typically relies on human expertise to make small adjustments without disrupting the entire code unit.
- Looking ahead: Developers’ responsibilities will fundamentally change, making them higher value contributors by focusing on refining, defining, maintaining, and troubleshooting code. As AI evolves, developers will play a crucial role in adapting to these changes.
- AI’s future role: Focusing on AI offers significant opportunities for both business and individual career growth, but the question remains whether AI will dominate or empower development teams.
Stream the audio version of this episode here:
AI Agent & Copilot Summit NA is an AI-first event to define the opportunities, impact, and outcomes possible with Microsoft Copilot for mid-market & enterprise companies. Register now to attend AI Agent & Copilot Summit in San Diego, CA from March 17-19, 2026.
