Microsoft has announced general availability of its Azure OpenAI Service which includes AI writer tools such as GPT-3.5, Codex, and DALL-E 2, in a move that hopes to democratize AI technologies and make them more readily available to more customers.
The tech giant debuted the Azure OpenAI Service in November 2021, bringing together some of the most powerful AI tools we know of with Azure-specific features like security, reliability, compliance, and data privacy.
Azure says it has freed up staff time in just a few months by generating things like support ticket summaries and generating more relevant content for online shoppers.
Microsoft Azure OpenAI service
Microsoft invested $1 billion in OpenAI – the company behind the popular GPT model – and has since reportedly invested another $2 billion The New York Times (opens in a new tab).
Fast forward to 2023, and the company is reportedly preparing a major $10 billion investment in the company and integrating its AI with more Microsoft services, including Bing search engine.
“We’ve taken an iterative approach to large models, working closely with our OpenAI partner and our customers to carefully assess use cases, learn from, and mitigate potential threats,” explained Microsoft AI Platform Vice President Eric Boyd, in blog post (opens in a new tab).
Some user protection measures include requiring developers to apply for access and further content filters.
While hardcore users can apply for Azure OpenAI now, Register (opens in a new tab) highlighted its distinct lack of general availability, making it only available in the four US Azure regions and the Western Europe region, which it says comes down to the heavy workload required to bring low-latency AI to the world.
