Microsoft has announced the general availability of its Azure OpenAI Service, which incorporates AI writer tools like GPT-3.5, Codex, and DALL-E 2, in a move that it hopes will democratize artificial intelligence technologies and make them more readily available to more customers.
The tech giant debuted Azure OpenAI Service back in November 2021, offering up a combination of some of the most powerful AI tools we have come to know with the characteristics typical of Azure, which it says are security, reliability, compliance, and data privacy.
In the space of just a couple of months, the Azure platform claims to have freed up workers’ time 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 is reported to have invested a further $2 billion since then according to The New York Times (opens in new tab).
Fast forward to 2023 and the company is said to be preparing a large $10 billion investment in the company and integrating its AI into more Microsoft services, including its Bing search engine.
“We have taken an iterative approach to large models, working closely with our partner OpenAI and our customers to carefully assess use cases, learn, and address potential risks,” Microsoft AI Platform corporate VP, Eric Boyd, explained in a blog post (opens in new tab).
Some measures to protect users include the requirement for developers to apply for access and further content filters.
While keen users can apply for Azure OpenAI Service now, The Register (opens in new tab) has highlighted its distinct lack of general availability, rendering it only available in four US-based Azure regions and the West Europe region, which it says is down to the large amount of effort required to make low-latency AI available globally.
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