Course Information
This course serves as an introduction to fundamental concepts in artificial intelligence (AI) and the suite of Microsoft Azure services applicable for constructing AI solutions. It does not aim to train individuals as professional data scientists or software developers. Instead, the focus lies in fostering an understanding of common AI workloads and the capacity to discern Azure services suitable for their support. Structured as a blended learning experience, the course seamlessly integrates instructor-led training with online materials available on the Microsoft Learn platform (https://azure.com/learn). The hands-on exercises within the course align with Learn modules, encouraging students to utilize the Learn platform as a reference to reinforce their learning and explore topics in greater depth.
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.
1 – Fundamental AI Concepts
- 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
2 – Fundamentals of machine learning
- What is machine learning?
- Types of machine learning
- Regression
- Binary classification
- Multiclass classification
- Clustering
- Deep learning
- Azure Machine Learning
3 – Fundamentals of Azure AI services
- AI services on the Azure platform
- Create Azure AI service resources
- Use Azure AI services
- Understand authentication for Azure AI services
4 – Fundamentals of Computer Vision
- Images and image processing
- Machine learning for computer vision
- Azure AI Vision
5 – Fundamentals of Facial Recognition
- Understand Face analysis
- Get started with Face analysis on Azure
6 – Fundamentals of optical character recognition
- Get started with Azure AI Vision
- Get started with Vision Studio on Azure
7 – Fundamentals of Text Analysis with the Language Service
- Understand Text Analytics
- Get started with text analysis
8 – Fundamentals of question answering with the Language Service
- Understand question answering
- Get started with the Language service and Azure Bot Service
9 – Fundamentals of conversational language understanding
- Describe conversational language understanding
- Get started with conversational language understanding in Azure
10 – Fundamentals of Azure AI Speech
- Understand speech recognition and synthesis
- Get started with speech on Azure
11 – Fundamentals of Azure AI Document Intelligence
- Explore capabilities of document intelligence
- Get started with receipt analysis on Azure
12 – Fundamentals of Knowledge Mining and Azure AI Search
- 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
13 – Fundamentals of Generative AI
- What is generative AI?
- What are language models?
- Using language models
- What are copilots?
- Microsoft Copilot
- Considerations for Copilot prompts
- Extending and developing copilots
14 – Fundamentals of Azure OpenAI Service
- 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
15 – Fundamentals of Responsible Generative AI
- Plan a responsible generative AI solution
- Identify potential harms
- Measure potential harms
- Mitigate potential harms
- Operate a responsible generative AI solution
