Introduction to AI

Completed100 XP
• 2 minutes

AI enables us to build amazing software that can improve health care, enable people
to overcome physical disadvantages, empower smart infrastructure, create incredible
entertainment experiences, and even save the planet!

Watch the following video to see some ways that AI can be used.

What is AI?
Simply put, AI is software that imitates human behaviors and capabilities. Key
workloads include:

• Machine learning - This is often the foundation for an AI system, and is the
way we "teach" a computer model to make predictions and draw conclusions
from data.
• Computer vision - Capabilities within AI to interpret the world visually through
cameras, video, and images.
• Natural language processing - Capabilities within AI for a computer to
interpret written or spoken language, and respond in kind.
• Document intelligence - Capabilities within AI that deal with managing,
processing, and using high volumes of data found in forms and documents.
• Knowledge mining - Capabilities within AI to extract information from large
volumes of often unstructured data to create a searchable knowledge store.
• Generative AI - Capabilities within AI that create original content in a variety of
formats including natural language, image, code, and more.

Understand machine learning

Completed100 XP
• 4 minutes

Machine Learning is the foundation for most AI solutions. Since the 1950's,
researchers, often known as data scientists, have worked on different approaches to
AI. Most modern applications of AI have their origins in machine learning, a branch
of AI that combines computer science and mathematics.

Let's start by looking at a real-world example of how machine learning can be used
to solve a difficult problem.
Sustainable farming techniques are essential to maximize food production while
protecting a fragile environment. The Yield, an agricultural technology company
based in Australia, uses sensors, data, and machine learning to help farmers make
informed decisions related to weather, soil, and plant conditions.

View the following video to learn more.

How machine learning works

So how do machines learn?

The answer is, from data. In today's world, we create huge volumes of data as we go
about our everyday lives. From the text messages, emails, and social media posts we
send to the photographs and videos we take on our phones, we generate massive
amounts of information. More data still is created by millions of sensors in our
homes, cars, cities, public transport infrastructure, and factories.

Data scientists can use all of that data to train machine learning models that can
make predictions and inferences based on the relationships they find in the data.

Machine learning models try to capture the relationship between data. For example,
suppose an environmental conservation organization wants volunteers to identify
and catalog different species of wildflower using a phone app. The following
animation shows how machine learning can be used to enable this scenario.
 1. A team of botanists and scientists collect data on wildflower samples.
2. The team labels the samples with the correct species.
3. The labeled data is processed using an algorithm that finds relationships
between the features of the samples and the labeled species.
4. The results of the algorithm are encapsulated in a model.
5. When new samples are found by volunteers, the model can identify the correct
species label.

Approaches to AI have advanced to complete tasks of much greater complexity.

These complex models form the basis of AI capabilities.

Machine learning in Microsoft Azure

Microsoft Azure provides the Azure Machine Learning service - a cloud-based
platform for creating, managing, and publishing machine learning models. Azure
Machine Learning Studio offers multiple authoring experiences such as:

• Automated machine learning: this feature enables non-experts to quickly

create an effective machine learning model from data.
 • Azure Machine Learning designer: a graphical interface enabling no-code
development of machine learning solutions.
• Data metric visualization: analyze and optimize your experiments with
visualization.
• Notebooks: write and run your own code in managed Jupyter Notebook
servers that are directly integrated in the studio.

Next unit: Understand computer vision

Continue

Next unit: Understand machine learning

Understand computer vision

Completed100 XP
• 5 minutes

Computer Vision is an area of AI that deals with visual processing. Let's explore some
of the possibilities that computer vision brings.

The Seeing AI app is a great example of the power of computer vision. Designed for
the blind and low vision community, the Seeing AI app harnesses the power of AI to
open up the visual world and describe nearby people, text and objects.

View the following video to learn more about Seeing AI.

To find out more, check out the Seeing AI web page.

Computer Vision models and capabilities

Most computer vision solutions are based on machine learning models that can be
applied to visual input from cameras, videos, or images. The following table describes
common computer vision tasks.

Expand table
Task Description
Image
classification

Image classification involves training a machine learning model to classify images based
example, in a traffic monitoring solution you might use an image classification model to c
the type of vehicle they contain, such as taxis, buses, cyclists, and so on.
Object detection

Object detection machine learning models are trained to classify individual objects within
their location with a bounding box. For example, a traffic monitoring solution might use o
identify the location of different classes of vehicle.
Task Description
Semantic
segmentation

Semantic segmentation is an advanced machine learning technique in which individual pi

classified according to the object to which they belong. For example, a traffic monitoring
traffic images with "mask" layers to highlight different vehicles using specific colors.
Image analysis

You can create solutions that combine machine learning models with advanced image ana
extract information from images, including "tags" that could help catalog the image or eve
that summarize the scene shown in the image.
Task Description
Face detection,
analysis, and
recognition

Face detection is a specialized form of object detection that locates human faces in an ima
combined with classification and facial geometry analysis techniques to recognize individ
features.
Optical character
recognition (OCR)

Optical character recognition is a technique used to detect and read text in images. You ca
in photographs (for example, road signs or store fronts) or to extract information from sca
letters, invoices, or forms.

Computer vision services in Microsoft Azure

You can use Microsoft's Azure AI Vision to develop computer vision solutions. The
service features are available for use and testing in the Azure Vision Studio and
other programming languages. Some features of Azure AI Vision include:

• Image Analysis: capabilities for analyzing images and video, and extracting
descriptions, tags, objects, and text.
• Face: capabilities that enable you to build face detection and facial recognition
solutions.
 • Optical Character Recognition (OCR): capabilities for extracting printed or
handwritten text from images, enabling access to a digital version of the
scanned text.

Next unit: Understand natural language processing

Understand natural language

processing
Completed100 XP
• 4 minutes

Natural language processing (NLP) is the area of AI that deals with creating software
that understands written and spoken language.

NLP enables you to create software that can:

• Analyze and interpret text in documents, email messages, and other sources.
• Interpret spoken language, and synthesize speech responses.
• Automatically translate spoken or written phrases between languages.
• Interpret commands and determine appropriate actions.

For example, Starship Commander is a virtual reality (VR) game from Human Interact
that takes place in a science fiction world. The game uses natural language
processing to enable players to control the narrative and interact with in-game
characters and starship systems.

Watch the following video to learn more.

Natural language processing in Microsoft Azure

You can use Microsoft's Azure AI Language to build natural language processing
solutions. Some features of Azure AI Language include understanding and analyzing
text, training conversational language models that can understand spoken or text-
based commands, and building intelligent applications.

Microsoft's Azure AI Speech is another service that can be used to build natural
language processing solutions. Azure AI Speech features include speech recognition
and synthesis, real-time translations, conversation transcriptions, and more.
You can explore Azure AI Language features in the Azure Language Studio and
Azure AI Speech features in the Azure Speech Studio. The service features are
available for use and testing in the studios and other programming languages.

Next unit: Understand document intelligence and

knowledge mining

Understand document intelligence and

knowledge mining
Completed100 XP
• 3 minutes

Document Intelligence is the area of AI that deals with managing, processing, and
using high volumes of a variety of data found in forms and documents. Document
intelligence enables you to create software that can automate processing for
contracts, health documents, financial forms and more

Document intelligence in Microsoft Azure

You can use Microsoft's Azure AI Document Intelligence to build solutions that
manage and accelerate data collection from scanned documents. Features of Azure
AI Document Intelligence help automate document processing in applications and
workflows, enhance data-driven strategies, and enrich document search capabilities.
You can use prebuilt models to add intelligent document processing for invoices,
receipts, health insurance cards, tax forms, and more. You can also use Azure AI
Document Intelligence to create custom models with your own labeled datasets. The
service features are available for use and testing in the Document Intelligence
Studio and other programming languages.
Knowledge Mining
Knowledge mining is the term used to describe solutions that involve extracting
information from large volumes of often unstructured data to create a searchable
knowledge store.

Knowledge mining in Microsoft Azure

One Microsoft knowledge mining solution is Azure AI Search, a private, enterprise,
search solution that has tools for building indexes. The indexes can then be used for
internal only use, or to enable searchable content on public facing internet assets.

Azure AI Search can utilize the built-in AI capabilities of Azure AI services such as
image processing, document intelligence, and natural language processing to extract
data. The product's AI capabilities makes it possible to index previously unsearchable
documents and to extract and surface insights from large amounts of data quickly.

Next unit: Understand generative AI

Understand generative AI
Completed100 XP
• 2 minutes

Generative AI describes a category of capabilities within AI that create original

content. People typically interact with generative AI that has been built into chat
applications. Generative AI applications take in natural language input, and return
appropriate responses in a variety of formats including natural language, image,
code, and audio.

Generative AI in Microsoft Azure

In Microsoft Azure, you can use the Azure OpenAI service to build generative AI
solutions. Azure OpenAI Service is Microsoft's cloud solution for deploying,
customizing, and hosting generative AI models. It brings together the best of
OpenAI's cutting edge models and APIs with the security and scalability of the Azure
cloud platform.

Azure OpenAI supports many foundation model choices that can serve different
needs. The service features are available for use and testing in the Azure OpenAI
Studio and other programming languages. You can use the Azure OpenAI Studio
user interface to manage, develop, and customize generative AI models.
Next unit: Challenges and risks with AI

Challenges and risks with AI

Completed100 XP
• 3 minutes

Artificial Intelligence is a powerful tool that can be used to greatly benefit the world.
However, like any tool, it must be used responsibly.

The following table shows some of the potential challenges and risks facing an AI
application developer.

Expand table
Challenge or Risk Example
Bias can affect results A loan-approval model discriminates by gender due to bias in the data wit
Errors may cause harm An autonomous vehicle experiences a system failure and causes a collisio
Data could be exposed A medical diagnostic bot is trained using sensitive patient data, which is s
Solutions may not work for A home automation assistant provides no audio output for visually impair
everyone
Users must trust a complex system An AI-based financial tool makes investment recommendations - what are
Who's liable for AI-driven An innocent person is convicted of a crime based on evidence from facial
decisions? responsible?

Next unit: Understand Responsible AI

Understand Responsible AI
Completed100 XP
• 10 minutes

At Microsoft, AI software development is guided by a set of six principles, designed

to ensure that AI applications provide amazing solutions to difficult problems
without any unintended negative consequences.

Fairness
AI systems should treat all people fairly. For example, suppose you create a machine
learning model to support a loan approval application for a bank. The model should
predict whether the loan should be approved or denied without bias. This bias could
be based on gender, ethnicity, or other factors that result in an unfair advantage or
disadvantage to specific groups of applicants.

Azure Machine Learning includes the capability to interpret models and quantify the
extent to which each feature of the data influences the model's prediction. This
capability helps data scientists and developers identify and mitigate bias in the
model.

Another example is Microsoft's implementation of Responsible AI with the Face

service, which retires facial recognition capabilities that can be used to try to infer
emotional states and identity attributes. These capabilities, if misused, can subject
people to stereotyping, discrimination or unfair denial of services.

For more details about considerations for fairness, watch the following video.

Reliability and safety

AI systems should perform reliably and safely. For example, consider an AI-based
software system for an autonomous vehicle; or a machine learning model that
diagnoses patient symptoms and recommends prescriptions. Unreliability in these
kinds of systems can result in substantial risk to human life.

AI-based software application development must be subjected to rigorous testing

and deployment management processes to ensure that they work as expected
before release.

For more information about considerations for reliability and safety, watch the
following video.

Privacy and security

AI systems should be secure and respect privacy. The machine learning models on
which AI systems are based rely on large volumes of data, which may contain
personal details that must be kept private. Even after the models are trained and the
system is in production, privacy and security need to be considered. As the system
uses new data to make predictions or take action, both the data and decisions made
from the data may be subject to privacy or security concerns.

For more details about considerations for privacy and security, watch the following
video.
Inclusiveness
AI systems should empower everyone and engage people. AI should bring benefits
to all parts of society, regardless of physical ability, gender, sexual orientation,
ethnicity, or other factors.

For more details about considerations for inclusiveness, watch the following video.

Transparency
AI systems should be understandable. Users should be made fully aware of the
purpose of the system, how it works, and what limitations may be expected.

For more details about considerations for transparency, watch the following video.

Accountability
People should be accountable for AI systems. Designers and developers of AI-based
solutions should work within a framework of governance and organizational
principles that ensure the solution meets ethical and legal standards that are clearly
defined.

For more details about considerations for accountability, watch the following video.

The principles of responsible AI can help you understand some of the challenges
facing developers as they try to create ethical AI solutions.

Further resources
For more resources to help you put the responsible AI principles into practice,
see https://www.microsoft.com/ai/responsible-ai-resources.

To see these policies in action you can read about Microsoft’s framework for building
AI systems responsibly.

Next unit: Knowledge check