Investing.com -- Microsoft Corp. announced Project Solara on Tuesday, a new platform designed to power products that users interact with primarily through artificial intelligence agents on mobile devices for businesses.

The company revealed the platform at its Build developer conference in San Francisco. Microsoft demonstrated two concept designs created with chipmaker Qualcomm Inc. and Taiwan's MediaTek Inc.

Steven Bathiche, a technical fellow in Microsoft's applied sciences group, presented a device resembling an employee badge that includes Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and wireless connectivity, a touch-screen display and fingerprint reader.

The second device is a small desktop unit with a screen that looks similar to smart speakers like Amazon's Echo Show line and Google's Nest Hub.

Microsoft showed a video featuring Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella and Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon discussing the need for new devices that can run specific AI agents in form factors suited to their operating environments. The executives said existing interfaces such as personal computers and smartphones won't always be the best solution.

Microsoft said AccuWeather, Best Buy, CVS Health and Levi Strauss are working with the technology.