News from the AI & ML world
DeeperML - #azure
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Coral Garnick@Madrona
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AIwire
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Microsoft is intensifying its efforts in AI agent technology, signaling a significant shift towards the "autonomous enterprise." At Microsoft Build 2025, the company highlighted its focus on agentic AI, including the expansion of Azure AI Foundry to support complex workflows and multi-agent systems. This platform now processes billions of enterprise queries daily, serving over 70,000 customers, and is being enhanced with Grok models from xAI, giving developers a wider selection of AI tools. CVP Charles Lamanna emphasizes that AI agents are fundamentally reshaping teams, tools, and workflows, predicting a future where "there will now be ‘an agent for that’" instead of just an app.
The introduction of the Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers for Microsoft Dynamics 365 ERP and CRM is aimed at enhancing AI agent interoperability. These servers break down data and application silos, allowing agents to work across processes, thereby enabling new autonomous scenarios for improved business functionality and productivity. Microsoft is also pushing for multi-agent workflows and on-device AI through Foundry Local, supporting open protocols like Agent-to-Agent (A2A) and MCP to streamline AI system communication. These protocols are crucial for creating an 'open agentic web', allowing diverse AI systems to work together efficiently. To ensure practical implementation for developers, Microsoft has introduced AgentOps tools within Azure AI Foundry. These tools provide real-time insights into agent performance, covering aspects such as efficiency, cost, and safety, which are often overlooked during deployment. NVIDIA, through its AI-Q Blueprint, is also addressing the challenge of integrating multiple vendor agent systems by promoting interoperability among agents, tools, and data sources. As Bartley Richardson from NVIDIA noted, enterprises must acknowledge the reality of multi-vendor environments and strive to seamlessly mesh different agent systems to drive efficiency across industries, even if the agentic systems don’t get it right 100% of the time. Recommended read:
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@www.microsoft.com
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References:
www.microsoft.com
Microsoft is aggressively integrating artificial intelligence across its products and services, striving to revolutionize the user experience. The company is focused on developing agentic systems that can work independently, proactively identify problems, suggest solutions, and maintain context across interactions. Microsoft envisions a future where AI agents will augment and amplify organizational capabilities, leading to significant transformations in various fields. To facilitate secure and flexible interactions, Microsoft is employing Model Context Protocol (MCP) to enable AI models to interact with external services.
As AI agents become more sophisticated and integrated into business processes, Microsoft recognizes the importance of evolving identity standards. The company is actively working on robust mechanisms to ensure agents can securely access data and act across connected systems, including APIs, code repositories, and enterprise systems. Microsoft emphasizes that industry collaboration on identity standards is crucial for the safe and effective deployment of AI agents. To aid organizations in safely adopting AI, Microsoft Deputy CISO Yonatan Zunger shares guidance for efficient implementation and defense against evolving identity attack techniques. Microsoft CVP Charles Lamanna offers an AI adoption playbook, emphasizing the importance of "customer obsession" and "extreme ownership" for both startups and large enterprises navigating the age of AI. Lamanna suggests focusing on a few high-impact AI projects instead of spreading resources thinly across numerous pilots. Recommended read:
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Ken Yeung@Ken Yeung
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Microsoft is making significant strides in AI innovation, with a focus on both experimental and practical applications. One notable project unveiled at Build 2025 is Project Amelie, an experimental AI agent designed to autonomously build machine learning pipelines from a single prompt. Powered by Microsoft Research's RD agent, Amelie aims to automate and optimize research and development processes in machine learning, potentially eliminating manual setup work typically handled by data scientists. Early testing has shown promising results, with Project Amelie outperforming current state-of-the-art benchmarks on MLE-Bench.
Microsoft is also applying AI to solve real-world problems in healthcare and weather forecasting. They have unveiled an AI-powered orchestration system available through the Azure AI Foundry Agent Catalog to streamline cancer care planning, which brings together specialized AI agents to assist clinicians with analyzing multimodal medical data from imaging and genomics to clinical notes and pathology. This system aims to automate parts of the tumor board process, making personalized treatment plans more accessible. In weather forecasting, Microsoft's latest AI model, Aurora, is able to provide detailed and accurate 10-day forecasts in seconds. In addition to these innovations, Microsoft is advancing its Windows AI strategy with native support for Model Context Protocol (MCP) on Windows 11 and the introduction of Windows AI Foundry. The MCP integration will bring Anthropic's protocol to Windows 11, enabling AI agents to connect with native apps, system services, and external tools. With its Windows AI Foundry, developers can fine-tune and run AI models directly on Windows PCs. These efforts aim to build a secure agentic future on Windows, fostering the development of AI agents within the Windows ecosystem. Recommended read:
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Kevin Okemwa@windowscentral.com
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References:
engineering.fb.com
, www.windowscentral.com
Microsoft is strategically prioritizing AI model accessibility through Azure, with CEO Satya Nadella emphasizing making AI solutions available to customers for maximum profit. This approach involves internal restructuring, including job cuts, to facilitate increased investment in AI and streamline operations. The goal is to build a robust, subscription-based AI operating system that leverages advancements like ChatGPT, ensuring that Microsoft remains competitive in the rapidly evolving AI landscape.
Microsoft is actively working on improving integrations with external data sources using the Model Context Protocol (MCP). This initiative has led to a collaboration with Twilio to enhance conversational AI capabilities for enterprise customer communication. Twilio's technology helps deliver the "last mile" of AI conversations, enabling businesses to integrate Microsoft's conversational intelligence capabilities into their existing communication channels. This partnership gives Twilio greater visibility among Microsoft's enterprise customers, exposing its developer tools to large firms looking to build extensible custom communication solutions. In addition to these strategic partnerships, Microsoft is also contributing to the open-source community by releasing Pyrefly, a faster Python type checker written in Rust. Developed initially at Meta for Instagram's codebase, Pyrefly is now available for the broader Python community to use, helping developers catch errors before runtime. The release of Pyrefly signifies Microsoft's commitment to fostering innovation and supporting the development of AI-related tools and technologies. Recommended read:
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@thetechbasic.com
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Microsoft has announced major layoffs affecting approximately 6,000 employees, which is equivalent to 3% of its global workforce. This move is part of a broader strategic shift aimed at streamlining operations and boosting the company's focus on artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing. The layoffs are expected to impact various divisions, including LinkedIn, Xbox, and overseas offices. The primary goal of the restructuring is to position Microsoft for success in a "dynamic marketplace" by reducing management layers and increasing agility.
The decision to implement these layoffs comes despite Microsoft reporting strong financial results for FY25 Q3, with $70.1 billion in revenue and a net income of $25.8 billion. According to Microsoft CFO Amy Hood, the company is focused on “building high-performing teams and increasing our agility by reducing layers with fewer managers". The cuts also align with a recurring trend across the industry, with firms eliminating staff who do not meet expectations. Microsoft's move to prioritize AI investments is costing the company a significant number of jobs. Microsoft is following a trend of other technology companies that are investing heavily in AI, the company has been pouring billions into AI tools and cloud services. The company's cloud service, Azure, is expanding at a rapid rate and the company aims to inject more money into this region. Recommended read:
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Mels Dees@Techzine Global
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Microsoft is reportedly preparing to host Elon Musk's Grok AI model within its Azure AI Foundry platform, signaling a potential shift in its AI strategy. The move, stemming from discussions with xAI, Musk's AI company, could make Grok accessible to a broad user base and integrate it into Microsoft's product teams via the Azure cloud service. Azure AI Foundry serves as a generative AI development hub, providing developers with the necessary tools and models to host, run, and manage AI-driven applications, potentially positioning Microsoft as a neutral platform supporting multiple AI models. This follows reports indicating Microsoft is exploring third-party AI models like DeepSeek and Meta for its Copilot service.
Microsoft's potential hosting of Grok comes amid reports that its partnership with OpenAI may be evolving. While Microsoft remains quiet about any deal with xAI, sources indicate that Grok will be available on Azure AI Foundry, providing developers with access to the model. However, Microsoft reportedly intends only to host the Grok model and will not be involved in training future xAI models. This collaboration with xAI could strengthen Microsoft's position as an infrastructure provider for AI models, offering users more freedom of choice in selecting which AI models they want to use within their applications. Alongside these developments, Microsoft is enhancing its educational offerings with Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat agents. These specialized AI assistants can personalize student support and provide instructor assistance. Copilot Chat agents can be tailored to offer expertise in instructional design, cater to unique student preferences, and analyze institutional data. These agents are designed to empower educators and students alike, transforming education experiences through customized support and efficient access to resources. Recommended read:
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Joey Snow@Microsoft Security Blog
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References:
Microsoft Security Blog
, www.microsoft.com
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Microsoft is significantly expanding its AI capabilities across various sectors, with innovations impacting cloud services, business applications, and even education. CEO Satya Nadella revealed that Microsoft's AI model performance is "doubling every six months," driven by advancements in pre-training, inference, and system design. Microsoft is also betting on Musk’s Grok AI to Challenge OpenAI’s Dominance by planning to host Grok AI on Azure, potentially providing developers with more options for building AI applications. These advancements are designed to accelerate AI innovation and business transformation for organizations.
The company's Dynamics 365 and Power Platform are receiving substantial updates with the 2025 release wave 1, integrating AI-driven Copilot and agent capabilities to enhance business processes and customer engagement. These new features will empower the workforce to automate tasks across sales, service, finance, and supply chain functions. Microsoft is also launching pre-built agents for Dynamics 365, accelerating time to value for businesses looking to leverage AI in their operations. Microsoft 365 Copilot is being implemented into education to enhance learning. Copilot Chat is being used for personalized student support and instructor assistance. Security remains a key priority, with Microsoft sharing secure coding tips from experts at Microsoft Build. These tips, including securing AI from the start and locking down data with Purview APIs, are designed to help developers build safer applications. With AI playing a bigger role, secure coding is now a necessity. Microsoft is releasing a set of Purview APIs (+SDK) that will allow partners and customers to integrate their custom AI apps with the Microsoft Purview ecosystem for enterprise grade Data Security and Compliance outcomes. Recommended read:
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@techstrong.ai
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Microsoft has unveiled the public preview of Azure MCP Server, an open-source tool designed to empower AI agents with enhanced capabilities. This innovative server implements the Model Context Protocol (MCP), establishing a standardized communication bridge between AI agents and Azure cloud resources. By utilizing natural language instructions, AI systems can now seamlessly interact with various Azure services, marking a significant step towards AI-driven business transformation. This allows a "write once" approach to integration between AI systems and data sources by creating a universal interface.
The Azure MCP Server provides AI agents with access to core Azure services, including Azure Cosmos DB (NoSQL), Azure Storage, Azure Monitor (Log Analytics), Azure App Configuration, and Azure Resource Groups. Agents can perform tasks such as querying databases, managing storage blobs, configuring monitoring settings, and managing resource groups. The momentum behind MCP is substantial, with over 1,000 MCP servers built since its launch. The server's current capabilities enable agents to list accounts, databases, and containers; execute SQL queries; access container properties; query logs using Kusto Query Language (KQL); and manage key-value pairs. Furthermore, Microsoft's AI Red Team (AIRT) has released a comprehensive guide to failure modes in agentic AI systems. The report categorizes failure modes across two dimensions: security and safety, each comprising novel and existing types. Novel security failures include agent compromise, agent injection, and multi-agent jailbreaks. Novel safety failures cover issues such as biases in resource allocation and prioritization risks. By publishing this detailed taxonomy, Microsoft aims to provide practitioners with a critical foundation for designing and maintaining resilient agentic systems. Recommended read:
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Kailyn Sylvester@Microsoft Security Blog
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Microsoft is actively enhancing its AI integration across Azure and Copilot, introducing new features and programs to support both enterprise security and AI innovation. The company is now offering the "Llama 4 herd" within Azure AI Foundry and Azure Databricks, providing users with more AI tools and resources. Simultaneously, Microsoft is working to improve Copilot's capabilities by integrating enhanced security measures and features designed to facilitate AI adoption within organizations. These advancements reflect Microsoft's commitment to making AI more accessible and secure for its users.
Microsoft is also working with external partners to foster AI development. Microsoft Hong Kong has collaborated with Cyberport to launch the "Cyberport x Microsoft AI Partnership Programme," aimed at nurturing local start-ups. This program provides benefits like solution support, expert guidance, and business matching opportunities to promising Hong Kong-based companies. Six companies were selected to participate, showcasing innovative AI solutions in healthcare, insurance, risk management, and corporate sustainability. In addition to external partnerships, Microsoft is focused on internal security enhancements related to AI. Microsoft Copilot utilizes classification labels as part of Microsoft Information Protection (MIP) to safeguard sensitive information, ensuring data security and regulatory compliance. These labels, applied manually, automatically, or suggested by Copilot, categorize data based on sensitivity levels, such as public, internal, or confidential. Furthermore, Microsoft is hosting a "Tech Accelerator: Azure Security and AI Adoption" event on April 22, 2025, designed to equip developers and cloud architects with the essential guidance and resources needed to securely plan, build, manage, and optimize their Azure deployments and AI projects. Recommended read:
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