Course Overview:

This course introduces fundamentals concepts related to artificial intelligence (AI), and the services in Microsoft Azure that can be used to create AI solutions. The course is not designed to teach students to become professional data scientists or software developers, but rather to build awareness of common AI workloads and the ability to identify Azure services to support them. The course is designed as a blended learning experience that combines instructor-led training with online materials on the Microsoft Learn platform (https://azure.com/learn). The hands-on exercises in the course are based on Learn modules, and students are encouraged to use the content on Learn as reference materials to reinforce what they learn in the class and to explore topics in more depth.

Course Objectives:

• Describe Artificial Intelligence workloads and considerations
• Describe fundamental principles of machine learning on Azure
• Describe features of computer vision workloads on Azure
• Describe features of Natural Language Processing (NLP) workloads on Azure
• Describe features of conversational AI workloads on Azure

Who Should Attend?

The Azure AI Fundamentals course is designed for anyone interested in learning about the types of solution artificial intelligence (AI) makes possible, and the services on Microsoft Azure that you can use to create them. You don’t need to have any experience of using Microsoft Azure before taking this course, but a basic level of familiarity with computer technology and the Internet is assumed. Some of the concepts covered in the course require a basic understanding of mathematics, such as the ability to interpret charts. The course includes hands-on activities that involve working with data and running code, so a knowledge of fundamental programming principles will be helpful.

Course Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites for this course.

Course Content:

Module 1: Fundamental AI Concepts
Introduction to AI
Understand machine learning
Understand computer vision
Understand natural language processing
Understand document intelligence and knowledge mining
Understand generative AI
Challenges and risks with AI
Understand Responsible AI
Knowledge check
Summary

Module 2: Fundamentals of machine learning
Introduction
What is machine learning?
Types of machine learning
Regression
Binary classification
Multiclass classification
Clustering
Deep learning
Azure Machine Learning
Knowledge check
Summary

Module 3: Fundamentals of Azure AI service
Introduction
AI services on the Azure platform
Create Azure AI service resources
Use Azure AI services
Understand authentication for Azure AI services
Exercise – Explore Azure AI Services
Knowledge check
Summary

Module 4: Fundamentals of Computer Vision
Introduction
Images and image processing
Machine learning for computer vision
Azure AI Vision
Knowledge check
Summary

Module 5: Fundamentals of Facial Recognition
Introduction
Understand Face analysis
Get started with Face analysis on Azure
Exercise – Detect faces in Vision Studio
Knowledge check
Summary

Module 6: Fundamentals of optical character recognition
Introduction
Get started with Azure AI Vision
Get started with Vision Studio on Azure
Exercise – Read text in Vision Studio
Knowledge check
Summary

Module 7: Fundamentals of Text Analysis with the Language Service
Introduction
Understand Text Analytics
Get started with text analysis
Exercise – Analyze text with Language Studio
Knowledge check
Summary

Module 8: Fundamentals of question answering with the Language Service
Introduction
Understand question answering
Get started with the Language service and Azure Bot Service
Exercise – Use question answering with Language Studio
Knowledge check
Summary

Module 9: Fundamentals of conversational language understanding
Introduction
Describe conversational language understanding
Get started with conversational language understanding in Azure
Knowledge check
Summary

Module 10: Fundamentals of Azure AI Speech
Introduction
Understand speech recognition and synthesis
Get started with speech on Azure
Exercise – Explore Speech Studio
Knowledge check
Summary

Module 11: Fundamentals of Azure AI Document Intelligence
Introduction
Explore capabilities of document intelligence
Get started with receipt analysis on Azure
Exercise – Extract from data in Document Intelligence Studio
Knowledge check
Summary

Module 12: Fundamentals of Knowledge Mining and Azure AI Search
Introduction
What is Azure AI Search?
Identify elements of a search solution
Use a skillset to define an enrichment pipeline
Understand indexes
Use an indexer to build an index
Persist enriched data in a knowledge store
Create an index in the Azure portal
Query data in an Azure AI Search index
Knowledge check
Summary

Module 13: Fundamentals of Generative AI
Introduction
What is generative AI?
Large language models
What is Azure OpenAI?
What are copilots?
Improve generative AI responses with prompt engineering
Exercise – Explore Microsoft Copilot in Microsoft Edge
Knowledge check
Summary

Module 14: Fundamentals of Azure OpenAI Service
Introduction
What is generative AI
Describe Azure OpenAI
How to use Azure OpenAI
Understand OpenAI’s natural language capabilities
Understand OpenAI code generation capabilities
Understand OpenAI’s image generation capabilities
Describe Azure OpenAI’s access and responsible AI policies
Exercise – Explore Azure OpenAI Service
Knowledge check
Summary

Module 15: Fundamentals of Responsible Generative AI
Introduction
Plan a responsible generative AI solution
Identify potential harms
Measure potential harms
Mitigate potential harms
Operate a responsible generative AI solution
Exercise – Explore content filters in Azure OpenAI
Knowledge check
Summary