Part 1: Foundations and Essentials of Azure AI

Part 1 of this book is designed to provide a comprehensive foundation for working with Azure AI services. The first chapter focuses on key concepts in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), introducing supervised, unsupervised, and reinforcement learning, as well as advanced topics such as deep learning and Generative AI. It also covers foundational elements such as Large Language Models (LLMs) and Small Language Models (SMLs), Natural Language Processing (NLP), and prompt engineering, offering a clear understanding of these concepts without diving too deeply into technical details. The second chapter transitions into getting started with Azure AI, offering an overview of its capabilities, including services such as AI Search, Document Intelligence, Azure OpenAI Service, Vision, Speech, Language, and Content Safety, along with their features and practical applications. The third chapter focuses on managing, monitoring, and securing Azure AI services, covering critical strategies such as logging, metrics, cost management, secure key handling with Azure Key Vault, and private communication with virtual networks and private endpoints. Together, these chapters provide a solid foundation for building, deploying, and maintaining robust AI solutions.

This part has the following chapters:

• Chapter 1, Understanding AI, ML, and Azure’s AI Services
• Chapter 2, Getting Started with Azure AI: Studio, Pipelines, and Containerization
• Chapter 3, Managing, Monitoring, and Securing Azure AI Services