One year of Phi: Small language models making big leaps in AI

By Dustin Ward

A new era of AI  One year ago, Microsoft introduced small language models (SLMs) to customers with the release of Phi-3 on Azure AI Foundry, leveraging research on SLMs to expand the range of efficient AI models and tools available to customers.  Today, we are excited to introduce Phi-4-reasoning, Phi-4-reasoning-plus, and Phi-4-mini-reasoning—marking a new era…

Azure AI Foundry: Your GPS for the changing AI landscape

By Dustin Ward

I spent most of the last decade in the Midwest (hello, Chicagoland!) but now live in the Seattle area and work at the Microsoft campus in Redmond. Before moving here, I’d visited the Redmond campus dozens of times as a Microsoft partner and customer, but had only basic airport-campus-hotel-restaurant navigation skills. Relocating a family of…

Unveiling GPT-image-1: Rising to new heights with image generation in Azure AI Foundry

By Dustin Ward

We are thrilled to announce the launch of GPT-image-1, the latest and most advanced image generation model, coming soon to eligible customers on Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service. This groundbreaking model sets a new standard in generating high-quality images, solving complex prompts, and offering zero-shot capabilities in various scenarios. Build custom generative AI solutions That’s enough…

5 insights from the front lines of the platform shift 

By Dustin Ward

What do leaders in sports and entertainment, healthcare, consulting, and financial services have in common?  First, they’re using data, AI, and cloud technologies in ways that would have been unthinkable only a few years ago. And they’re sharing their experiences from the front lines of the AI platform shift in our new Azure podcast, Leading…

Upskill your team on Azure Databricks with an on-demand webinar and Microsoft Learn

By Dustin Ward

In a data-driven world, you need an efficient way to harness your data for actionable insights and gain a competitive edge. Azure Databricks is a powerful, unified analytics and AI platform that streamlines the entire AI project lifecycle—from rapid experimentation to production deployment. By consolidating data ingestion, transformation, and model tracking in one environment, Azure…

o3 and o4-mini: Unlock enterprise agent workflows with next-level reasoning AI with Azure AI Foundry and GitHub

By Dustin Ward

We are thrilled to announce the availability of the latest iterations in the o-series of models: OpenAI o3 and o4-mini models on Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service in Azure AI Foundry and GitHub. These models represent a significant leap forward in AI reasoning, offering enhanced quality, safety, and performance compared to their predecessors. Create custom AI-powered experiences Key features and…