Microsoft is revolutionizing developer communities across the region with a wave of new product launches and feature updates. These advancements are not just about creating and delivering the next generation of differentiated Artificial Intelligence (AI) experiences, but also about empowering you, the developer, to shape the future of AI.
Azure AI Services
Microsoft’s Azure AI Services has introduced significant updates, bringing a wealth of new capabilities to developers. The general availability of Azure AI Studio, a key component of the Microsoft Copilot stack, offers a powerful platform for creating and delivering the next generation of AI experiences. OpenAI’s latest flagship model, GPT-4o, now available in Azure AI Studio and as an API, sets a new standard for generative and conversational AI experiences. With Phi-3-vision, a new multimodal model in the Phi-3 family of AI small language models (SLMs), developers can now leverage advanced text, images, and audio processing in their applications.
Microsoft Fabric
Microsoft has introduced updates to Microsoft Fabric that are set to revolutionize data analysis and decision-making. Real-Time Intelligence, currently in preview, aims to empower everyday analysts with simple low-code/no-code experiences, while providing pro developers with code-rich user interfaces to act proactively on high-volume, time-sensitive, and highly granular data. These updates are designed to help developers maximize their data and make informed decisions, enhancing their productivity and efficiency.
The preview also includes the Microsoft Fabric Workload Development Kit, a set of tools designed to extend applications within Fabric and create a unified user experience for developers and independent software vendors (ISVs).
Microsoft Copilot Stack
Microsoft is not just supporting professionals, but fostering a sense of community and collaboration. The new updates and features to the Copilot stack, including Team Copilot, expand the role of Microsoft 365 from a behind-the-scenes personal AI assistant to a team-based tool. This expansion is a testament to our belief in the power of collaboration and its ability to enhance project management and efficiency.
Microsoft Copilot Studio
New capabilities in Microsoft Copilot Studio have been introduced to support developers in building custom copilots that act as agents responding proactively to specific data and events. This empowers developers to automate repetitive tasks and focus on more strategic work. GitHub is also introducing the first set of GitHub Copilot extensions, developed by Microsoft and third-party partners, in private preview. These extensions allow developers to customize their GitHub Copilot experience with preferred services like Azure, Docker, Sentry, and more directly within GitHub Copilot Chat, further enhancing their productivity and collaboration.
Frank X Shaw, Chief Communications Officer at Microsoft, stated, “Since its release, Copilot has emerged as a game-changer for many people and organizations across industries, empowering them to improve efficiency, enhance customer experiences, and tackle complex tasks. Over the past year, we’ve built Microsoft Copilot and released more than 150 updates. We’ve developed the Copilot stack, which takes everything we’ve learned and lets developers build their copilots.”
Advanced AI and HPC Workloads
To ensure developers can run demanding AI and high-performance computing (HPC) workloads like Azure OpenAI Service, Microsoft has introduced the new Cobalt 100 Arm-based virtual machine (VM) in preview and the Azure ND MI300X v5 VM, now generally available. These build on Microsoft’s earlier launch of Copilot+ PCs, a new category of intelligent Windows PCs designed exclusively for AI.
Copilot+ PCs
Copilot+ PCs, featuring powerful new silicon capable of 40+ trillion operations per second (TOPS) and all-day battery life, are designed with you, the user, in mind. These devices, available for pre-order starting from $999, will unlock new experiences for you, such as instantly finding past activities with Recall, generating and refining AI images in near real-time with Cocreator, bridging language barriers with Live Captions, and translating audio from over 40 languages into English. We understand your needs and are committed to providing the best tools to meet them.
These advancements will be available on thin and light devices from Microsoft Surface and OEM partners Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Samsung, with general availability starting June 18, 2024. Together with the latest features announced at Build 2024, these devices will position Windows as the most open platform for AI and the best place for developers.
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