At the 2023 Build conference, Microsoft announced an expansive set of updates and initiatives to bolster Artificial Intelligence capabilities for developers worldwide. The centrepiece of the announcements was the introduction of AI copilots that organizations could use to curate workflows with AI. To do this, Microsoft enabled plugin extensibility, released Azure AI Studio, and Azure ML Prompt Flow to create complicated AI chains. They also announced an Azure AI Content Safety Service to ensure responsible AI use.
Kevin Scott, Microsoft CTO, was highly enthusiastic about the potential of AI in the hands of developers and encouraged them to “go do some legendary sh*t” with the tools. He described copilots as applications having conversational AI interfaces which assist with cognitive tasks, adding that plugins are a powerful part of the AI stack to augment copilots and allow for different digital functions.
Scott Guthrie, Executive Vice President of the Cloud and AI Group at Microsoft, discussed the Azure AI Studio as a way for organizations to build their own models with their own data and further showcased Prompt Flow for prompt engineering in AI architectures. For safety, he urged to “design with safety in mind from the very beginning” and argued that the Azure AI Content Safety Service provides the necessary technology.
Microsoft is an American multinational technology company created in 1975 and headquartered in Redmond, Washington. The company is best known for its Windows operating system, Office Suite, Xbox consoles, and Skype, and a variety of cloud solution products such as Azure and LinkedIn. Switching its focus to cloud services in 2015, Microsoft now offers its leading products to customers as well as platform and AI services.
Kevin Scott is a co-founder of the venture firm Zoomcare and served as the CEO of the health services company Infolab before assuming the role of Chief Technology Officer at Microsoft in 2014. It was under his leadership the company made its move to cloud operations and further developed AI services. At the Build conference, he energized the audience with his passion for AI and willingness to “go do some legendary sh*t”.
