What's the difference between these three conferences?

Google I/O 2026 (May 19-20) is a general developer + consumer event led by 'Gemini Intelligence' — Android 17, Googlebook, Gemini models, agent features across phones, smart glasses, and Chrome. Microsoft Build 2026 (June 2-3, San Francisco) is the broadest enterprise dev event — Copilot Studio, Agent 365, Azure AI Foundry, GitHub Copilot, Windows AI. Code with Claude 2026 (San Francisco May 6, London May 19, Tokyo June 10) is Anthropic's deeply technical, Claude-focused conference covering Outcomes evals, Dreams memory, Multi-agent Orchestration, and Code Routines.

Which one should I attend?

If you ship to enterprises on Microsoft 365 → Build. If you build Android, Chrome, or Gemini API apps → Google I/O. If you build agents with Claude (especially Claude Code) → Code with Claude. If you build cross-vendor agent infrastructure → all three matter, but Code with Claude is the most technically dense.

Are the announcements interoperable?

Increasingly yes. MCP (Model Context Protocol) is universal across Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft. A2A (Agent-to-Agent) is converging — Microsoft Work IQ A2A and Google A2A are being designed for interop. The biggest gaps remain in identity/governance (each vendor's control plane is proprietary) and eval tooling (Microsoft's CLI is Copilot-only).

What are the biggest reveals likely to be?

Google I/O — a new Gemini model (possibly 3.5 or 4.0) and Veo updates. Build — M365 Copilot Agent Evaluations GA, agent improvements in GitHub Copilot, multi-vendor Agent 365. Code with Claude — already revealed Outcomes (Public Beta), Dreams (Research Preview), Multi-agent Orchestration (Public Beta), Code Routines (Research Preview), doubled Claude Code rate limits, and the SpaceX Colossus compute deal.

Quick Answer

Microsoft Build 2026 vs Google I/O 2026 vs Code with Claude

Published: May 18, 2026

Microsoft Build vs Google I/O vs Code with Claude 2026

Three platform-defining AI conferences in six weeks: Code with Claude (May 6 + May 19 + June 10), Google I/O (May 19-20), Microsoft Build (June 2-3). Here’s what each one is for and which one matters to you.

Last verified: May 18, 2026

TL;DR table

	Code with Claude 2026	Google I/O 2026	Microsoft Build 2026
Dates	SF May 6, London May 19, Tokyo June 10	May 19-20	June 2-3
Location	Three cities + virtual	Mountain View + streaming	San Francisco (Fort Mason)
Headliner	Boris Cherny (Claude Code) + product leads	Sundar Pichai + Demis Hassabis	Satya Nadella
Audience	Claude developers, agent builders	Android devs, Chrome devs, Gemini API devs	M365 admins, GitHub devs, Azure devs, Windows ISVs
Theme	”Code with Claude” — agentic dev workflows	”Gemini Intelligence” — proactive AI across devices	”AI for every developer” — Copilot + Agent 365 + Azure
Hot announcements	Outcomes, Dreams, Multi-agent, Code Routines, SpaceX Colossus deal, doubled rate limits	New Gemini model, Android 17 agentic system, Googlebook laptops, Veo + Lyria updates	Likely Eval CLI GA, Copilot Studio A2A GA, GitHub Copilot autonomous agents, Agent 365 expansion
Format	Hands-on workshops + live demos	Big-stage keynote + sessions	Keynote + tracks + labs
Best for	Deep technical Claude users	Mobile + consumer-facing AI	Enterprise Microsoft stack

The three events at a glance

Code with Claude 2026 (Anthropic)

The deeply technical one. Hands-on, workshop-heavy, focused on people who already ship with Claude. Anthropic is using it to confirm and operationalize features rather than reveal them — most of the “new” announcements were actually live elsewhere first.

Confirmed at SF (May 6):

Claude Dreams (Research Preview) — agents learn from past sessions and reorganize memory.
Claude Managed Agents Outcomes (Public Beta) — rubric-based eval system; producer iterates until grader passes.
Multi-agent Orchestration (Public Beta) — lead agent decomposes tasks across up to 20 specialists.
Claude Code Routines (Research Preview) — scheduled, cloud-hosted Claude Code automations.
Doubled Claude Code rate limits across Pro / Max / Team / Enterprise.
SpaceX Colossus compute deal — 300 MW, 220,000 GPUs.

Speakers: Boris Cherny (Head of Claude Code), Ami Vora (CPO), Dianne Na Penn (Head of Product Research), Katelyn Lesse (Platform Eng), Angela Jiang (Claude Platform), Cat Wu (Claude Code Product).

Google I/O 2026 (Google)

The consumer-meets-developer event. Big-stage keynote, mass media coverage, lots of cross-device demos. Theme: “Gemini Intelligence.”

Expected:

New Gemini model — possibly 3.5 or even 4.0 — with multimodal native input.
Android 17 redesigned as an “intelligence system” with native agentic features.
Googlebook laptops — laptop-class hardware with Gemini deeply integrated, launching in autumn.
Veo (video) and Lyria (music) updates for developers.
Agentic coding workflows in Gemini.
Chrome AI Browsing Assistant built-in.
Hidden Gemini Live models — “Capybara” (identified as Gemini 3.1 Pro) and six others spotted in pre-event testing.

Microsoft Build 2026 (Microsoft)

The broadest enterprise event. Tracks for Copilot, GitHub, Azure, Windows, and the M365 ecosystem.

Expected (based on April-May 2026 pre-announcements):

M365 Copilot Agent Evaluations CLI GA (currently public preview).
Copilot Studio A2A GA, with Work IQ as the substrate.
Microsoft Agent 365 expansions — more agent sources, deeper Entra + Purview ties.
GitHub Copilot autonomous agent SKU competing with Codex Cloud and Claude Code Routines.
GPT-5.5 Reasoning GA across Copilot.
Agentic Word, Excel, PowerPoint — multi-step app-native agent actions.
Azure AI Foundry agent kit updates.
New Windows AI experiences.

Which announcements come from where?

Topic	Code with Claude	Google I/O	Microsoft Build
New foundation model	(Hermes 4, Claude Opus 4.7)	✅ Big	(via OpenAI relationship, not Microsoft direct)
Agent frameworks	✅ Claude Managed Agents	Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform	✅ Copilot Studio + Foundry
Scheduled agent runtime	✅ Code Routines	Likely Gemini agentic features	Likely Copilot Studio routines
Multi-agent orchestration	✅ Public Beta	Likely	✅ Via A2A + Work IQ
Eval tooling	✅ Outcomes	TBD	✅ M365 Copilot Agent Eval CLI
Vertical SKUs	Claude for Legal	Gemini for …	Copilot for … (likely)
Hardware reveal	—	✅ Googlebook + smart glasses	Windows / Copilot+ PC updates
Coding agent	Claude Code (deepest)	Gemini coding tutor (Colab)	GitHub Copilot

How they overlap and where they don’t

Overlap:

All three care about agents, MCP, A2A, evals, and governance.
All three want enterprise revenue — Microsoft from the install base, Google from cloud/data, Anthropic from greenfield AI-first companies.
All three are shipping in May-June 2026 to crowd out OpenAI’s next move (DevDay or Frontier expansion expected Q3-Q4).

Where they don’t overlap:

Code with Claude is uniquely deep on agent reasoning, memory, eval — the most technical of the three.
Google I/O is uniquely cross-device — phones, glasses, cars, laptops, smart speakers.
Microsoft Build is uniquely enterprise governance — Agent 365, Entra, Purview, M365 admin.

Which one matters to you

You ship... → Watch closely
─────────────────────────────────
Claude Code apps    → Code with Claude
LangGraph / Mastra  → Code with Claude + Build
Android / Chrome    → Google I/O
Gemini API apps     → Google I/O
M365 Copilot agents → Build
GitHub Copilot users → Build
Azure AI Foundry    → Build
Cross-vendor infra  → All three
Enterprise CIO buyer → Build > I/O > Code with Claude
Solo dev / OSS      → Code with Claude > I/O > Build

What gets confirmed where

MCP universal adoption — Anthropic invented it; Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI now ship it. Each conference adds connectors.
A2A interoperability — Microsoft and Google both have A2A implementations. Build is where we’ll see whether they’re cross-vendor interoperable.
Eval as production bottleneck — all three now ship native eval tooling.
Agent platforms beat agent frameworks — buyers want a runtime + control plane, not just a library.

TL;DR

Three conferences, three jobs: Code with Claude is for technical Claude shippers. Google I/O is the cross-device consumer + Android event. Microsoft Build is the broadest enterprise dev event. If you only watch one, pick by the audience you sell to. If you build cross-vendor agent infrastructure, you owe it to your stack to watch all three.

Sources: build.microsoft.com agenda, io.google/2026/ official Google I/O page, Anthropic Code with Claude 2026 recap (anthropic.com), Simon Willison conference notes May 6 2026, VentureBeat Dreaming coverage, Microsoft Copilot Studio April 2026 announcement post, Forbes “7 Hidden Gemini Live AI Models” (May 12, 2026) — May 2026.