Microsoft Build 2024: Top 7 AI announcements - part 1!

Build kicked off today, and it promises to be an exciting, AI-focused event. The company has unveiled numerous innovations that showcase how it's integrating AI across its apps and services. If you're eager to stay informed, here are the seven biggest AI announcements from the event:

1. Custom Generative Mode in Preview

Imagine managing invoices from various suppliers, each with different formats. With the Custom Generative model, you can start with a single sample invoice and define fields like "Invoice Number," "Date," "Total Amount," and "Supplier Name." As you add more invoices, the model learns and adapts, accurately extracting these fields even from varied layouts. If the model misses a field, you can correct it, and it will improve over time, saving you significant time and effort.

Don’t miss the session: Session detail ( microsoft.com )

2. Azure AI Search Enhancements

Azure AI Search now includes several major updates:

·?????? Support for binary vector types in vector search.

·?????? Enhanced response accuracy with new vector and hybrid search capabilities.

·?????? Simplified image processing, vectorization, and search via built-in tools like Microsoft Azure AI Vision and Azure OpenAI Service embedding models.

·?????? Direct data integration from Microsoft Fabric to AI Search with OneLake.

Don’t miss the session: Revolutionizing search and retrieval with Azure AI Search ( microsoft.com )

3. Azure AI Studio Now Generally Available

Azure AI Studio offers a user-friendly interface and code-first capabilities for developers to explore AI tools, orchestrate multiple APIs and models, and test AI innovations. Key features include:

·?????? Access to the latest foundation models as a service (MaaS), allowing developers to build generative AI apps using Pay-as-you-go inference APIs.

·?????? Comprehensive AI toolchain and app services, including data integration and prompt orchestration.

·?????? Prompt Flow for workflow orchestration of multimodal models, including images as inputs and outputs.

Read more here: Develop and deploy generative AI apps responsibly with Azure AI Studio ( microsoft.com )

4. Azure OpenAI Service Key Advancements

The Azure OpenAI Service has introduced several updates, transforming AI applications across various business scenarios:

·?????? Availability of GPT-4o in Azure AI Studio.

·?????? Fine-tuning capabilities for GPT-4.

·?????? Assistants API for enhanced AI interactions.

·?????? Preview of messaging insights for WhatsApp through Azure Communication Services.

Don’t miss the session: build.microsoft.com/sessions/2ac412b4-3e6a-4107-8c62-910e18cbe94c?wt.mc_ID=Build2024_esc_corp_bl_oo_bl_BON

5. Microsoft Adds Multimodal Phi-3 Model

The new Phi-3-vision model in the Phi-3 family supports general visual reasoning tasks and responses involving charts, graphs, and tables. It can process images and text inputs and generate text responses.

Read more here: Khan Academy and Microsoft partner to expand access to AI tools that personalize teaching and help make learning fun - Source

6. AI Capabilities in Azure Database for PostgreSQL

The PostgreSQL extension for Azure AI is now generally available, enabling developers to build rich generative AI apps using large language models (LLMs). Key features include:

·?????? Generating LLM-based vector embeddings for similarity searches.

·?????? Utilizing Azure AI Language for sentiment analysis and language detection.

·?????? Real-time predictions with pre-trained machine learning models on Azure ML.

·?????? Real-time text translation using Azure AI Translator.

Read more here: Introducing in-database text embedding generation from multilingual-e5-small ( microsoft.com )

7. Azure Infrastructure Updates

Azure Compute Fleet in Preview

Azure Compute Fleet simplifies provisioning Azure compute across various virtual machine types, availability zones, and pricing models. It allows customers to manage up to 10,000 VMs with a single API call.

Don’t miss the session: Building applications at hyper scale with?the latest Azure innovations ( microsoft.com )

New Azure Virtual Machine Series

·?????? The Cobalt 100 Arm-based VM, featuring Microsoft’s custom Cobalt 100 processor, offers up to 40% improved performance for general-purpose and cloud-native workloads.

·?????? The ND MI300X v5 VM, optimized for AI and high-performance computing, features the AMD Instinct MI300X AI accelerator and NVIDIA Quantum-2 CX7 InfiniBand, providing significant memory and bandwidth capabilities.

Read more here: Announcing the preview of new Azure VMs based on the Azure Cobalt 100 processor - Microsoft Community Hub

In conclusion, Microsoft Build 2024 is shaping up to be a groundbreaking event with a strong focus on AI. From advanced models and AI-powered database capabilities to enhanced infrastructure and multimodal models, Microsoft is pushing the boundaries of what's possible with AI. Stay tuned for more updates as these innovations continue to evolve and impact various industries.

#MicrosoftBuild #AIInnovation #TechAdvancements #FutureOfAI