Azure & DevOps Podcast

Stephen Toub: AI in .NET - Episode 344

Apr 7, 2025

Stephen Toub, a Partner Software Engineer at Microsoft with nearly 24 years of experience in .NET, delves into AI's transformative role in software development. He discusses the evolution of .NET libraries to support AI-enhanced tools improving developer productivity and user interfaces. Toub explains the concept of advanced agent systems powered by large language models, and highlights critical integrations in the .NET ecosystem that allow interoperability across various AI frameworks. His insights pave the way for a bold future in AI and .NET.

37:31

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Stephen Toub

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Episode notes

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Quick takeaways

Stephen Toub emphasizes the significance of AI-augmented tools that enhance developer productivity and create more intuitive applications.

The adoption of the Model Context Protocol is crucial for enabling seamless integration and interaction between various AI systems and tools.

Deep dives

Stephen Tobe's Career Path and Key Contributions

Stephen Tobe, a partner software engineer at Microsoft, has had a diverse and multifaceted career, contributing to various significant initiatives within the .NET ecosystem. Over nearly 24 years at Microsoft, he has played pivotal roles in the development of concurrency, async programming, and the transition toward open-source .NET with the introduction of .NET Core. His journey has highlighted the intersection of coding, management, and writing, leading him to focus on the performance and innovation of .NET libraries. Tobe's work is now focused on integrating AI functionality into .NET to enhance software development and execution.

Intro

3min

Navigating the Evolution of .NET: A Career Journey

4min

AI in Software Development: Evolution and Integration

23min

Building Interoperable AI in the .NET Ecosystem

5min

Harnessing AI in .NET: Simple Integrations and Practical Applications

2min

Stephen Toub is a Partner Software Engineer at Microsoft. Stephen has been at Microsoft for almost 24 years and has done it all. If it has to do with .NET, he’s been in it. And today, he looks after all the .NET libraries making sure .NET continues to be the fastest platform on the planet. He ran the MSDN Magazine before it morphed into the docs and blogs of today. He was a leader in the concurrency and async and parallel programming developments, and now he’s turned his attention to pushing the AI envelope with .NET.

Topics of Discussion:

[4:37] Stephen morphed a few of his many interests into the role he has today.

[6:04] How moments like the push for parallel computing, the open-sourcing of .NET, cross-platform support, and performance goals shaped Steven’s current focus. [7:37] Steven highlights the two major AI tracks: (1) AI-augmented tools that improve developer productivity, and (2) building AI capabilities into applications themselves.

[10:37] The future of user interfaces.

[12:43] Why “agents” are basically advanced actor-based systems empowered by large language models and tool calling, enabling reasoning and orchestration beyond simple Q&A. [23:22] Model context protocol.

[24:08] A paradigm shift in system integration.

[30:24] How Stephen and the .NET libraries team factor out common AI abstractions for the ecosystem, so that different frameworks (Semantic Kernel, Onnx Runtime, Olama, etc.) can interoperate.

[32:15] Steven gives examples of how minimal C# code, combined with locally hosted LLMs or cloud endpoints, can solve real tasks.

Mentioned in this Episode:

Clear Measure Way

Architect Forum

Software Engineer Forum

Programming with Palermo — New Video Podcast! Email us at programming@palermo.net.

Clear Measure, Inc. (Sponsor)

.NET DevOps for Azure: A Developer’s Guide to DevOps Architecture the Right Way, by Jeffrey Palermo

Stephen on GitHub

Stephen on LinkedIn

Demystifying Retrieval Augmented Generation with .NET

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