I\u2019ve been building software products for more than two decades now, and I can honestly say there\u2019s never been a more exciting time to be a developer. What was once a distant promise is now manifesting\u2014and not only through the type of apps that are possible, but how<\/em> you can build them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With Microsoft Azure, we\u2019re meeting you where you are today\u2014and paving the way to where you\u2019re going. So let\u2019s jump right into some<\/em> of what you\u2019ll learn over the next few days. Welcome to Microsoft Build 2024!<\/p>\n\n\n\n The number of companies turning to Azure AI continues to grow as the list of what\u2019s possible expands. We\u2019re helping more than 50,000 companies around the globe achieve real business impact using it\u2014organizations like Mercedes-Benz<\/a>, Unity<\/a>, Vodafone<\/a>, H&R Block<\/a>, PwC<\/a>, SWECO<\/a>, and so many others<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To make it even more valuable, we continue to expand the range of models available to you and simplify the process for you to find the right models for the apps you\u2019re building. You can learn more about all Azure AI updates we\u2019re announcing this week over on the Tech Community blog<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Azure AI Studio<\/a>, a key component of the copilot stack, is now generally available<\/a>. The pro-code platform empowers responsible generative AI development, including the development of your own custom copilot applications. The seamless development approach includes a friendly user interface (UI) and code-first capabilities, including Azure Developer CLI<\/a> (AZD) and AI Toolkit for VS Code, enabling developers to choose the most accessible workflow for their projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Developers can use Azure AI Studio to explore AI tools, orchestrate multiple interoperating APIs and models; ground models using their data using retrieval augmented generation (RAG) techniques; test and evaluate models for performance and safety; and deploy at scale and with continuous monitoring in production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our model catalog is the heart of Azure AI Studio. With more than 1,600 models available, we continue to innovate and partner broadly to bring you the best selection of frontier and open large language models (LLMs) and small language models (SLMs) so you have flexibility to compare benchmarks and select models based on what your business needs.\u202fAnd, we\u2019re making it easier for you to find the best model for your use case by comparing model benchmarks, like accuracy and relevance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m excited to announce OpenAI\u2019s latest flagship model, GPT-4o<\/a>, is now generally available in Azure OpenAI Service. This groundbreaking multimodal model integrates text, image, and audio processing in a single model and sets a new standard for generative and conversational AI experiences. Pricing for GPT-4o is $5\/1M Tokens for input and $15\/1M Tokens for output.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Earlier this month, we enabled GPT-4 Turbo with Vision through Azure OpenAI Service.<\/a> With these new models developers can build apps with inputs and outputs that span across text, images, and more, for a richer user experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019re announcing new models through Models-as-a-Service (MaaS)<\/a> in Azure AI Studio leading Arabic language model Core42 JAIS and TimeGen-1 from Nixtla are now available in preview. Models from AI21, Bria AI, Gretel Labs, NTT DATA, Stability AI as well as Cohere Rerank are coming soon.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n At Build we\u2019re announcing Phi-3-small, Phi-3-medium, and Phi-3-vision<\/a>, a new multimodal model, in the Phi-3 family of AI small language models (SLMs), developed by Microsoft. Phi-3 models are powerful, cost-effective and optimized for resource constrained environments including on-device, edge, offline inference, and latency bound scenarios where fast response times are critical. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sized at 4.2 billion parameters, Phi-3-vision supports general visual reasoning tasks and chart\/graph\/table reasoning. The model offers the ability to input images and text, and to output text responses. For example, users can ask questions about a chart or ask an open-ended question about specific images. Phi-3-mini and Phi-3-medium are also now generally available as part of Azure AI\u2019s MaaS offering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to new models, we are adding new capabilities across APIs to enable multimodal experiences. Azure AI Speech has several new features in preview including Speech analytics and Video translation<\/a> to help developers build high-quality, voice-enabled apps. Azure AI Search now has dramatically increased storage capacity<\/a> and up to 12X increase in vector index size at no additional cost to run RAG workloads at scale.<\/p>\n\n\n Get everything you need to develop generative AI applications and custom copilots in one platform<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n\n\n\n The tools you choose to build with should make it easy to go from idea to code to production. They should adapt to where and how you work, not the other way around. We\u2019re sharing several updates to our developer and app platforms that do just that, making it easier for all developers to build on Azure<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n By extending Azure services natively into the tools and environments you\u2019re already familiar with, you can more easily build and be confident in the performance, scale, and security of your apps. <\/p>\n\n\n \n\t\t\tHow to choose the right approach for your AI transformation\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t We\u2019re also making it incredibly easy for you to interact with Azure services from where you’re most comfortable: a favorite dev tool like VS Code, or even directly on GitHub, regardless of previous Azure experience or knowledge. Today, we\u2019re announcing the preview of GitHub Copilot for Azure<\/a>, extending GitHub Copilot to increase its usefulness for all developers. You’ll see other examples of this from Microsoft and some of the most innovative ISVs at Build, so be sure to explore our sessions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Also in preview today is the AI Toolkit for Visual Studio Code<\/a>, an extension that provides development tools and models to help developers acquire and run models, fine-tune them locally, and deploy to Azure AI Studio, all from VS Code. <\/p>\n\n\n\n .NET Aspire has arrived<\/a>! This new cloud-native stack simplifies development by automating configurations and integrating resilient patterns. With .NET Aspire, you can focus more on coding and less on setup while still using your preferred tools. This stack includes a developer dashboard for enhanced observability and diagnostics right from the start for faster and more reliable app development. Explore more about the general availability of .NET Aspire on the DevBlogs post. \u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019re also raising the bar on ease of use in our application platform services, introducing Azure Kubernetes Services (AKS) Automatic<\/a>, the easiest managed Kubernetes experience to take AI apps to production. In preview now, AKS Automatic builds on our expertise running some of the largest and most advanced Kubernetes applications in the world, from Microsoft Teams to Bing, XBox online services, Microsoft 365 and GitHub Copilot to create best practices that automate everything from cluster set up and management to performance and security safeguards and policies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As a developer you now have access to a self-service app platform that can move from container image to deployed app in minutes while still giving you the power of accessing the Kubernetes API. With AKS Automatic you can focus on building great code, knowing that your app will be running securely with the scale, performance and reliability it needs to support your business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Developers are at the forefront of a pivotal shift in application strategy which necessitates optimizations at every tier of an application\u2014including databases\u2014since AI apps require fast and frequent iterations to keep pace with AI model innovation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019re excited to unveil new data and analytics features this week designed to assist you in the critical aspects of crafting intelligent applications and empowering you to create the transformative apps of today and tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Vector search is core to any AI application so we\u2019re adding native capabilities to Azure Cosmos DB with Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL.<\/a> Powered by DiskANN, a powerful algorithm library, this makes Azure Cosmos DB the first cloud database to offer lower latency vector search at cloud scale without the need to manage servers. <\/p>\n\n\n The database for the era of AI<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019re also announcing the availability of Azure Database for PostgreSQL extension for Azure AI<\/a> to make bringing AI capabilities to data in PostgreSQL data even easier. Now generally available, this enables developers who prefer PostgreSQL to plug data directly into Azure AI for a simplified path to leverage LLMs and build rich PostgreSQL generative AI experiences.\u202f\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n Embeddings enable AI models to better understand relationships and similarities between data, which is key for intelligent apps. Azure Database for PostgreSQL in-database embedding generation<\/a> is now in preview so embeddings can be generated right within the database\u2014offering single-digit millisecond latency, predictable costs, and the confidence that data will remain compliant for confidential workloads.\u202f<\/p>\n\n\n\n These databases are not only helping you build your own AI experiences. We\u2019re also applying AI directly in the user experience so it\u2019s easier than ever to explore what\u2019s included in a database. Now in preview, Microsoft Copilot capabilities in Azure SQL DB<\/a> convert queries into SQL language so developers can use natural language to interact with data. And, Copilot capabilities are coming to Azure Database for MySQL to provide summaries of technical documentation in response to user questions\u2014creating an all-around easier and more enjoyable management experience.<\/p>\n\n\nCreate the future with Azure AI: offering you tools, model choice, and flexibility <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Empowering you with a broad selection of small and large language models <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Phi-3: Redefining what\u2019s possible with SLMs<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tAzure AI Studio <\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t
Bring your intelligent apps and ideas to life with Visual Studio, GitHub, and the Azure platform<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Access Azure services within your favorite tools for faster app development<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Updates that make cloud native development faster and easier<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Data solutions built for the era of AI<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Enabling developers to build faster with AI built into Azure databases <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Azure Cosmos DB<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t
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\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nMaking developer life easier through in-database Copilot capabilities<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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