Introducing the Azure AI Inference SDK: Access More AI Models with the Azure AI Model Catalog

The Azure AI Inference SDK for .NET simplifies accessing and using AI models from the Azure AI Model Catalog for tasks like chat. The Azure AI Model Catalog in Azure AI Studio offers a variety of AI models that can be easily deployed to Managed Compute or as a Serverless API, removing the complexity of hosting. The catalog includes models from various providers like Microsoft, Azure OpenAI, and Meta, ensuring a wide selection to meet diverse needs. Serverless API deployments are particularly user-friendly, eliminating the need for hardware provisioning and offering a pay-per-token billing model. Built-in Responsible AI features, such as Azure AI Content Safety moderation filters, ensure safe deployment of language models. Users can get started by deploying models like Phi-3, creating a C# application, and using the SDK to interact with models. The AI Community Standup session on August 14th will provide further insights into the SDK. Microsoft encourages developers to explore the SDK and provide feedback on their experiences.