Microsoft updates Azure AI platform to help build ‘next generation of AI applications’
Microsoft’s Azure AI platform just received several updates that help improve efficiency.
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What you need to know
Microsoft announced several updates for its Azure AI platform, including a feature that helps healthcare professionals. The new tools cover vision, language, and speech, as well as analytics to provide insight into data. Microsoft announced four new features in ablog post, Text Analytics for health preview, Form Recognizer, Custom Commands, and new Neural Text to Speech features.
Azure Cognitive Services can be used to make AI applications that provide insights, save time and money, and improve customer engagement, according to Microsoft. A spokesperson for Microsoft said, “Today Microsoft announced updates to its Azure AI platform, including new capabilities within Azure Cognitive Services aimed at helping customers build the next generation of AI applications.”
Text Analytics for healthallows health care providers to gather rich insights from unstructured data. For example, someone could enter “ibuprofen” and explore graph relationships. This feature is in preview.
Form Recognizeris now generally available. With Form Recognizer, people can extract information from millions of documents. This can significantly speed up tasks and improve efficiency.
Speech in Cognitive Services now supportsCustom Commands. With this feature, developers can create task-oriented voice applications. As outlined by Microsoft, it brings together Speech to Text, Language Understanding, and Text to Speech.
Lastly,Neural Text to Speechnow supports 15 additional natural-sounding languages. These languages are based on neural speech synthesis models. The newly supported languages are Salma in Arabic (Egypt), Zariyah in Arabic (Saudi Arabia), Alba in Catalan (Spain), Christel in Danish (Denmark), Neerja in English (India), Noora in Finnish (Finland), Swara in Hindi (India), Colette in Dutch (Netherland), Zofia in Polish (Poland), Fernanda in Portuguese (Portugal), Dariya in Russian (Russia), Hillevi in Swedish (Sweden), Achara in Thai (Thailand), HiuGaai in Chinese (Cantonese, Traditional) and HsiaoYu in Chinese (Taiwanese Mandarin).
You can read about these features in more detail inMicrosoft’s blog postbreaking down the additions.
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Sean Endicott is a tech journalist at Windows Central, specializing in Windows, Microsoft software, AI, and PCs. He’s covered major launches, from Windows 10 and 11 to the rise of AI tools like ChatGPT. Sean’s journey began with the Lumia 740, leading to strong ties with app developers. Outside writing, he coaches American football, utilizing Microsoft services to manage his team. He studied broadcast journalism at Nottingham Trent University and is active on X @SeanEndicott_ and Threads @sean_endicott_.
