Manish Hatwalne's tutorial explores the evolving landscape of AI models connecting with external tools, emphasizing the transition from function calling to the Model Context Protocol (MCP). Function calling, initiated by OpenAI in 2023, allows AI models to interact with external systems by embedding tool definitions directly into the AI requests, although it can lead to inefficiencies and vendor lock-in due to its provider-specific schemas. In contrast, MCP, introduced by Anthropic in 2024, offers an open standard for tool integration, using a client-server architecture to separate AI applications from tool logic, thus reducing repetitive work and enhancing modularity and scalability. The comparison highlights MCP's advantages in security, portability, and long-term maintainability over function calling, which remains suited for simple, single-provider scenarios. The article underscores MCP's potential to become the standard for AI tool integration, akin to USB-C for AI, by promoting interoperability and flexibility across diverse ecosystems, with Descope's solutions facilitating identity and authorization management within this expanding framework.