Learn How to Build Smarter AI Agents with Microsoft’s MCP Resources Hub
If you've been curious about how to build your own AI agents that can talk to APIs, connect with tools like databases, or even follow documentation you're in the right place. Microsoft has created something called MCP, which stands for Model‑Context‑Protocol. And to help you learn it step by step, they’ve made an amazing MCP Resources Hub on GitHub. In this blog, I’ll Walk you through what MCP is, why it matters, and how to use this hub to get started, even if you're new to AI development. What is MCP (Model‑Context‑Protocol)? Think of MCP like a communication bridge between your AI model and the outside world. Normally, when we chat with AI (like ChatGPT), it only knows what’s in its training data. But with MCP, you can give your AI real-time context from: APIs Documents Databases Websites This makes your AI agent smarter and more useful just like a real developer who looks up things online, checks documentation, and queries databases. What’s Inside the MCP Resources Hub? The MCP Resources Hub is a collection of everything you need to learn MCP: Videos Blogs Code examples Here are some beginner-friendly videos that explain MCP: Title What You'll Learn VS Code Agent Mode Just Changed Everything See how VS Code and MCP build an app with AI connecting to a database and following docs. The Future of AI in VS Code Learn how MCP makes GitHub Copilot smarter with real-time tools. Build MCP Servers using Azure Functions Host your own MCP servers using Azure in C#, .NET, or TypeScript. Use APIs as Tools with MCP See how to use APIs as tools inside your AI agent. Blazor Chat App with MCP + Aspire Create a chat app powered by MCP in .NET Aspire Tip: Start with the VS Code videos if you’re just beginning. Blogs Deep Dives and How-To Guides Microsoft has also written blogs that explain MCP concepts in detail. Some of the best ones include: Build AI agent tools using remote MCP with Azure Functions: Learn how to deploy MCP servers remotely using Azure. Create an MCP Server with Azure AI Agent Service : Enables Developers to create an agent with Azure AI Agent Service and uses the model context protocol (MCP) for consumption of the agents in compatible clients (VS Code, Cursor, Claude Desktop). Vibe coding with GitHub Copilot: Agent mode and MCP support: MCP allows you to equip agent mode with the context and capabilities it needs to help you, like a USB port for intelligence. When you enter a chat prompt in agent mode within VS Code, the model can use different tools to handle tasks like understanding database schema or querying the web. Enhancing AI Integrations with MCP and Azure API Management Enhance AI integrations using MCP and Azure API Management Understanding and Mitigating Security Risks in MCP Implementations Overview of security risks and mitigation strategies for MCP implementations Protecting Against Indirect Injection Attacks in MCP Strategies to prevent indirect injection attacks in MCP implementations Microsoft Copilot Studio MCP Announcement of the Microsoft Copilot Studio MCP lab Getting started with MCP for Beginners 9 part course on MCP Client and Servers Code Repositories Try it Yourself Want to build something with MCP? Microsoft has shared open-source sample code in Python, .NET, and TypeScript: Repo Name Language Description Azure-Samples/remote-mcp-apim-functions-python Python Recommended for Secure remote hosting Sample Python Azure Functions demonstrating remote MCP integration with Azure API Management Azure-Samples/remote-mcp-functions-python Python Sample Python Azure Functions demonstrating remote MCP integration Azure-Samples/remote-mcp-functions-dotnet C# Sample .NET Azure Functions demonstrating remote MCP integration Azure-Samples/remote-mcp-functions-typescript TypeScript Sample TypeScript Azure Functions demonstrating remote MCP integration Microsoft Copilot Studio MCP TypeScript Microsoft Copilot Studio MCP lab You can clone the repo, open it in VS Code, and follow the instructions to run your own MCP server. Using MCP with the AI Toolkit in Visual Studio Code To make your MCP journey even easier, Microsoft provides the AI Toolkit for Visual Studio Code. This toolkit includes: A built-in model catalog Tools to help you deploy and run models locally Seamless integration with MCP agent tools You can install the AI Toolkit extension from the Visual Studio Code Marketplace. Once installed, it helps you: Discover and select models quickly Connect those models to MCP agents Develop and test AI workflows locally before deploying to the cloud You can explore the full documentation here: Overview of the AI Toolkit for Visual Studio Code – Microsoft Learn This is perfect for developers who want to test things on their own system without needing a cloud setup right away. Why Should You Care About MCP? Because MCP: Makes your AI tools more powerful by giving them real-time knowledge Works with GitHub Copilot, Azure, and VS Code tools you may already use Is open-source and beginner-friendly with lots of tutorials and sample code It’s the future of AI development connecting models to the real world. Final Thoughts If you're learning AI or building software agents, don’t miss this valuable MCP Resources Hub. It’s like a starter kit for building smart, connected agents with Microsoft tools. Try one video or repo today. Experiment. Learn by doing and start your journey with the MCP for Beginners curricula.How to use any Python AI agent framework with free GitHub Models
I ❤️ when companies offer free tiers for developer services, since it gives everyone a way to learn new technologies without breaking the bank. Free tiers are especially important for students and people between jobs, when the desire to learn is high but the available cash is low. That's why I'm such a fan of GitHub Models: free, high-quality generative AI models available to anyone with a GitHub account. The available models include the latest OpenAI LLMs (like o3-mini), LLMs from the research community (like Phi and Llama), LLMs from other popular providers (like Mistral and Jamba), multimodal models (like gpt-4o and llama-vision-instruct) and even a few embedding models (from OpenAI and Cohere). With access to such a range of models, you can prototype complex multi-model workflows to improve your productivity or heck, just make something fun for yourself. 🤗 To use GitHub Models, you can start off in no-code mode: open the playground for a model, send a few requests, tweak the parameters, and check out the answers. When you're ready to write code, select "Use this model". A screen will pop up where you can select a programming language (Python/JavaScript/C#/Java/REST) and select an SDK (which varies depending on model). Then you'll get instructions and code for that model, language, and SDK. But here's what's really cool about GitHub Models: you can use them with all the popular Python AI frameworks, even if the framework has no specific integration with GitHub Models. How is that possible? The vast majority of Python AI frameworks support the OpenAI Chat Completions API, since that API became a defacto standard supported by many LLM API providers besides OpenAI itself. GitHub Models also provide OpenAI-compatible endpoints for chat completion models. Therefore, any Python AI framework that supports OpenAI-like models can be used with GitHub Models as well. 🎉 To prove it, I've made a new repository with examples from eight different Python AI agent packages, all working with GitHub Models: python-ai-agent-frameworks-demos. There are examples for AutoGen, LangGraph, Llamaindex, OpenAI Agents SDK, OpenAI standard SDK, PydanticAI, Semantic Kernel, and SmolAgents. You can open that repository in GitHub Codespaces, install the packages, and get the examples running immediately. Now let's walk through the API connection code for GitHub Models for each framework. Even if I missed your favorite framework, I hope my tips here will help you connect any framework to GitHub Models. OpenAI I'll start with openai , the package that started it all! import openai client = openai.OpenAI( api_key=os.environ["GITHUB_TOKEN"], base_url="https://models.inference.ai.azure.com") The code above demonstrates the two key parameters we'll need to configure for all frameworks: api_key : When using OpenAI.com, you pass your OpenAI API key here. When using GitHub Models, you pass in a Personal Access Token (PAT). If you open the repository (or any repository) in GitHub Codespaces, a PAT is already stored in the GITHUB_TOKEN environment variable. However, if you're working locally with GitHub Models, you'll need to generate a PAT yourself and store it. PATs expire after a while, so you need to generate new PATs every so often. base_url : This parameter tells the OpenAI client to send all requests to "https://models.inference.ai.azure.com" instead of the OpenAI.com API servers. That's the domain that hosts the OpenAI-compatible endpoint for GitHub Models, so you'll always pass that domain as the base URL. If we're working with the new openai-agents SDK, we use very similar code, but we must use the AsyncOpenAI client from openai instead. Lately, Python AI packages are defaulting to async, because it's so much better for performance. import agents import openai client = openai.AsyncOpenAI( base_url="https://models.inference.ai.azure.com", api_key=os.environ["GITHUB_TOKEN"]) model = agents.OpenAIChatCompletionsModel( model="gpt-4o", openai_client=client) spanish_agent = agents.Agent( name="Spanish agent", instructions="You only speak Spanish.", model=model) PydanticAI Now let's look at all of the packages that make it really easy for us, by allowing us to directly bring in an instance of either OpenAI or AsyncOpenAI . For PydanticAI, we configure an AsyncOpenAI client, then construct an OpenAIModel object from PydanticAI, and pass that model to the agent: import openai import pydantic_ai import pydantic_ai.models.openai client = openai.AsyncOpenAI( api_key=os.environ["GITHUB_TOKEN"], base_url="https://models.inference.ai.azure.com") model = pydantic_ai.models.openai.OpenAIModel( "gpt-4o", provider=OpenAIProvider(openai_client=client)) spanish_agent = pydantic_ai.Agent( model, system_prompt="You only speak Spanish.") Semantic Kernel For Semantic Kernel, the code is very similar. We configure an AsyncOpenAI client, then construct an OpenAIChatCompletion object from Semantic Kernel, and add that object to the kernel. import openai import semantic_kernel.connectors.ai.open_ai import semantic_kernel.agents chat_client = openai.AsyncOpenAI( api_key=os.environ["GITHUB_TOKEN"], base_url="https://models.inference.ai.azure.com") chat = semantic_kernel.connectors.ai.open_ai.OpenAIChatCompletion( ai_model_id="gpt-4o", async_client=chat_client) kernel.add_service(chat) spanish_agent = semantic_kernel.agents.ChatCompletionAgent( kernel=kernel, name="Spanish agent" instructions="You only speak Spanish") AutoGen Next, we'll check out a few frameworks that have their own wrapper of the OpenAI clients, so we won't be using any classes from openai directly. For AutoGen, we configure both the OpenAI parameters and the model name in the same object, then pass that to each agent: import autogen_ext.models.openai import autogen_agentchat.agents client = autogen_ext.models.openai.OpenAIChatCompletionClient( model="gpt-4o", api_key=os.environ["GITHUB_TOKEN"], base_url="https://models.inference.ai.azure.com") spanish_agent = autogen_agentchat.agents.AssistantAgent( "spanish_agent", model_client=client, system_message="You only speak Spanish") LangGraph For LangGraph, we configure a very similar object, which even has the same parameter names: import langchain_openai import langgraph.graph model = langchain_openai.ChatOpenAI( model="gpt-4o", api_key=os.environ["GITHUB_TOKEN"], base_url="https://models.inference.ai.azure.com", ) def call_model(state): messages = state["messages"] response = model.invoke(messages) return {"messages": [response]} workflow = langgraph.graph.StateGraph(MessagesState) workflow.add_node("agent", call_model) SmolAgents Once again, for SmolAgents, we configure a similar object, though with slightly different parameter names: import smolagents model = smolagents.OpenAIServerModel( model_id="gpt-4o", api_key=os.environ["GITHUB_TOKEN"], api_base="https://models.inference.ai.azure.com") agent = smolagents.CodeAgent(model=model) Llamaindex I saved Llamaindex for last, as it is the most different. The llama-index package has a different constructor for OpenAI.com versus OpenAI-like servers, so I opted to use that OpenAILike constructor instead. However, I also needed an embeddings model for my example, and the package doesn't have an OpenAIEmbeddingsLike constructor, so I used the standard OpenAIEmbedding constructor. import llama_index.embeddings.openai import llama_index.llms.openai_like import llama_index.core.agent.workflow Settings.llm = llama_index.llms.openai_like.OpenAILike( model="gpt-4o", api_key=os.environ["GITHUB_TOKEN"], api_base="https://models.inference.ai.azure.com", is_chat_model=True) Settings.embed_model = llama_index.embeddings.openai.OpenAIEmbedding( model="text-embedding-3-small", api_key=os.environ["GITHUB_TOKEN"], api_base="https://models.inference.ai.azure.com") agent = llama_index.core.agent.workflow.ReActAgent( tools=query_engine_tools, llm=Settings.llm) Choose your models wisely! In all of the examples above, I specified the gpt-4o model. The gpt-4o model is a great choice for agents because it supports function calling, and many agent frameworks only work (or work best) with models that natively support function calling. Fortunately, GitHub Models includes multiple models that support function calling, at least in my basic experiments: gpt-4o gpt-4o-mini o3-mini AI21-Jamba-1.5-Large AI21-Jamba-1.5-Mini Codestral-2501 Cohere-command-r Ministral-3B Mistral-Large-2411 Mistral-Nemo Mistral-small You might find that some models work better than others, especially if you're using agents with multiple tools. With GitHub Models, it's very easy to experiment and see for yourself, by simply changing the model name and re-running the code. Join the AI Agents Hackathon We are currently running a free virtual hackathon from April 8th - 30th, to challenge developers to create agentic applications using Microsoft technologies. You could build an agent entirely using GitHub Models and submit it to the hackathon for a chance to win amazing prizes! You can also join our 30+ streams about building AI agents, including a stream all about prototyping with GitHub Models. Learn more and register at https://aka.ms/agentshackAutomating PowerPoint Generation with AI: A Learn Live Series Case Study
Introduction A Learn Live is a series of events where over a period of 45 to 60 minutes, a presenter walks attendees through a learning module or pathway. The show/series, takes you through a Microsoft Learn Module, Challenge or a particular sample. Between April 15 to May 13, we will be hosting a Learn Live series on "Master the Skills to Create AI Agents." This premise is necessary for the blog because I was tasked with generating slides for the different presenters. Challenge: generation of the slides The series is based on the learning path: Develop AI agents on Azure and each session tackles one of the learn modules in the path. In addition, Learn Live series usually have a presentation template each speaker is provided with to help run their sessions. Each session has the same format as the learn modules: an introduction, lesson content, an exercise (demo), knowledge check and summary of the module. As the content is already there and the presentation template is provided, it felt repetitive to do create the slides one by one. And that's where AI comes in - automating slide generation for Learn Live modules. Step 1 - Gathering modules data The first step was ensuring I had the data for the learn modules, which involved collecting all the necessary information from the learning path and organizing it in a way that can be easily processed by AI. The learn modules repo is private and I have access to the repo, but I wanted to build a solution that can be used externally as well. So instead of getting the data from the repository, I decided to scrape the learn modules using BeautifulSoup into a word document. I created a python script to extract the data, and it works as follows: Retrieving the HTML – It sends HTTP requests to the start page and each unit page. Parsing Content – Using BeautifulSoup, it extracts elements (headings, paragraphs, lists, etc.) from the page’s main content. Populating a Document – With python-docx, it creates and formats a Word document, adding the scraped content. Handling Duplicates – It ensures unique unit page links by removing duplicates. Polite Scraping – A short delay (using time.sleep) is added between requests to avoid overloading the server. First, I installed the necessary libraries using: pip install requests beautifulsoup4 python-docx. Next, I ran the script below, converting the units of the learn modules to a word document: import requests from bs4 import BeautifulSoup from docx import Document from urllib.parse import urljoin import time headers = {"User-Agent": "Mozilla/5.0"} base_url = "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/modules/orchestrate-semantic-kernel-multi-agent-solution/" def get_soup(url): response = requests.get(url, headers=headers) return BeautifulSoup(response.content, "html.parser") def extract_module_unit_links(start_url): soup = get_soup(start_url) nav_section = soup.find("ul", {"id": "unit-list"}) if not nav_section: print("❌ Could not find unit navigation.") return [] links = [] for a in nav_section.find_all("a", href=True): href = a["href"] full_url = urljoin(base_url, href) links.append(full_url) return list(dict.fromkeys(links)) # remove duplicates while preserving order def extract_content(soup, doc): main_content = soup.find("main") if not main_content: return for tag in main_content.find_all(["h1", "h2", "h3", "p", "li", "pre", "code"]): text = tag.get_text().strip() if not text: continue if tag.name == "h1": doc.add_heading(text, level=1) elif tag.name == "h2": doc.add_heading(text, level=2) elif tag.name == "h3": doc.add_heading(text, level=3) elif tag.name == "p": doc.add_paragraph(text) elif tag.name == "li": doc.add_paragraph(f"• {text}", style='ListBullet') elif tag.name in ["pre", "code"]: doc.add_paragraph(text, style='Intense Quote') def scrape_full_module(start_url, output_filename="Learn_Module.docx"): doc = Document() # Scrape and add the content from the start page print(f"📄 Scraping start page: {start_url}") start_soup = get_soup(start_url) extract_content(start_soup, doc) all_unit_links = extract_module_unit_links(start_url) if not all_unit_links: print("❌ No unit links found. Exiting.") return print(f"🔗 Found {len(all_unit_links)} unit pages.") for i, url in enumerate(all_unit_links, start=1): print(f"📄 Scraping page {i}: {url}") soup = get_soup(url) extract_content(soup, doc) time.sleep(1) # polite delay doc.save(output_filename) print(f"\n✅ Saved module to: {output_filename}") # 🟡 Replace this with any Learn module start page start_page = "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/modules/orchestrate-semantic-kernel-multi-agent-solution/" scrape_full_module(start_page, "Orchestrate with SK.docx") Step 2 - Utilizing Microsoft Copilot in PowerPoint To automate the slide generation, I used Microsoft Copilot in PowerPoint. This tool leverages AI to create slides based on the provided data. It simplifies the process and ensures consistency across all presentations. As I already had the slide template, I created a new presentation based on the template. Next, I used copilot in PowerPoint to generate the slides based on the presentation. How did I achieve this? I uploaded the word document generated from the learn modules to OneDrive In PowerPoint, I went over to Copilot and selected ```view prompts```, and selected the prompt: create presentations Next, I added the prompt below and the word document to generate the slides from the file. Create a set of slides based on the content of the document titled "Orchestrate with SK". The slides should cover the following sections: • Introduction • Understand the Semantic Kernel Agent Framework • Design an agent selection strategy • Define a chat termination strategy • Exercise - Develop a multi-agent solution • Knowledge check • Summary Slide Layout: Use the custom color scheme and layout provided in the template. Use Segoe UI family fonts for text and Consolas for code. Include visual elements such as images, charts, and abstract shapes where appropriate. Highlight key points and takeaways. Step 3 - Evaluating and Finalizing Slides Once the slides are generated, if you are happy with how they look, select keep it. The slides were generated based on the sessions I selected and had all the information needed. The next step was to evaluate the generated slides, add the Learn Live introduction, knowledge check and conclusion. The goal is to create high-quality presentations that effectively convey the learning content. What more can you do with Copilot in PowerPoint? Add speaker notes to the slides Use agents within PowerPoint to streamline your workflow. Create your own custom prompts for future use cases Summary - AI for automation In summary, using AI for slide generation can significantly streamline the process and save time. I was able to automate my work and only come in as a reviewer. The script and PowerPoint generation all took about 10 minutes, something that would have previously taken me an hour and I only needed to counter review based on the learn modules. It allowed for the creation of consistent and high-quality presentations, making it easier for presenters to focus on delivering the content. Now, my question to you is, how can you use AI in your day to day and automate any repetitive tasks?Getting Started with the AI Toolkit: A Beginner’s Guide with Demos and Resources
If you're curious about building AI solutions but don’t know where to start, Microsoft’s AI Toolkit is a great place to begin. Whether you’re a student, developer, or just someone exploring AI for the first time, this toolkit helps you build real-world solutions using Microsoft’s powerful AI services. In this blog, I’ll Walk you through what the AI Toolkit is, how you can get started, and where you can find helpful demos and ready-to-use code samples. What is the AI Toolkit? The AI Toolkit is a collection of tools, templates, and sample apps that make it easier to build AI-powered applications and copilots using Microsoft Azure. With the AI Toolkit, you can: Build intelligent apps without needing deep AI expertise. Use templates and guides that show you how everything works. Quickly prototype and deploy apps with natural language, speech, search, and more. Watch the AI Toolkit in Action Microsoft has created a video playlist that covers the AI Toolkit and shows you how to build apps step-by-step. You can watch the full playlist here: It is especially useful for developers who want to bring AI into their projects, but also for beginners who want to learn by doing. AI Toolkit Playlist – https://aka.ms/AIToolkit/videos These videos help you understand the flow of building AI agents, using Azure OpenAI, and other cognitive services in a hands-on way. Explore Sample Projects on GitHub Microsoft also provides a public GitHub repository where you can find real code examples built using the AI Toolkit. Here’s the GitHub repo: AI Toolkit Samples – https://github.com/Azure-Samples/AI_Toolkit_Samples This repository includes: Sample apps using Azure AI services like OpenAI, Cognitive Search, and Speech. Instructions to deploy apps using Azure. Code that you can clone, test, and build on top of. You don’t have to start from scratch just open the code, understand the structure, and make small edits to experiment. How to Get Started Here’s a simple path if you’re just starting: Watch 2 or 3 videos from the AI Toolkit Playlist. Go to the GitHub repository and try running one of the examples. Make small changes to the code (like updating the prompt or output). Try deploying the solution on Azure by following the guide in the repo. Keep building and learning. Why This Toolkit is Worth Exploring As someone who is also learning and experimenting, I found this toolkit to be: Easy to understand, even for beginners. Focused on real-world applications, not just theory. Helpful for building responsible AI solutions with good documentation. It gives a complete picture — from writing code to deploying apps. Final Thoughts The AI Toolkit helps you start your journey in AI without feeling overwhelmed. It provides real code, real use cases, and practical demos. With the support of Microsoft Learn and Azure samples, you can go from learning to building in no time. If you’re serious about building with AI, this is a resource worth exploring. Continue the discussion in the Azure AI Foundry Discord community at Https://aka.ms/AI/discord Join the Azure AI Foundry Discord Server! References AI Toolkit Playlist (YouTube) https://aka.ms/AIToolkit/videos AI Toolkit GitHub Repository https://github.com/Azure-Samples/AI_Toolkit_Samples Microsoft Learn: AI Toolkit Documentation https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/ai-services/toolkit/ Azure AI Services https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/products/ai-services/Combating Digitally Altered Images: Deepfake Detection
In today's digital age, the rise of deepfake technology poses significant threats to credibility, privacy, and security. This article delves into our Deepfake Detection Project, a robust solution designed to combat the misuse of AI-generated content.Create Stunning AI Videos with Sora on Azure AI Foundry!
Special credit to Rory Preddy for creating the GitHub resource that enable us to learn more about Azure Sora. Reach him out on LinkedIn to say thanks. Introduction Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing content creation, and video generation is at the forefront of this transformation. OpenAI's Sora, a groundbreaking text-to-video model, allows creators to generate high-quality videos from simple text prompts. When paired with the powerful infrastructure of Azure AI Foundry, you can harness Sora's capabilities with scalability and efficiency, whether on a local machine or a remote setup. In this blog post, I’ll walk you through the process of generating AI videos using Sora on Azure AI Foundry. We’ll cover the setup for both local and remote environments. Requirements: Azure AI Foundry with sora model access A Linux Machine/VM. Make sure that the machine already has the package below: Java JRE 17 (Recommended) OR later Maven Step Zero – Deploying the Azure Sora model on AI Foundry Navigate to the Azure AI Foundry portal and head to the “Models + Endpoints” section (found on the left side of the Azure AI Foundry portal) > Click on the “Deploy Model” button > “Deploy base model” > Search for Sora > Click on “Confirm”. Give a deployment name and specify the Deployment type > Click “Deploy” to finalize the configuration. You should receive an API endpoint and Key after successful deploying Sora on Azure AI Foundry. Store these in a safe place because we will be using them in the next steps. Step one – Setting up the Sora Video Generator in the local/remote machine. Clone the roryp/sora repository on your machine by running the command below: git clone https://github.com/roryp/sora.git cd sora Then, edit the application.properties file in the src/main/resources/ folder to include your Azure OpenAI Credentials. Change the configuration below: azure.openai.endpoint=https://your-openai-resource.cognitiveservices.azure.com azure.openai.api-key=your_api_key_here If port 8080 is used for another application, and you want to change the port for which the web app will run, change the “server.port” configuration to include the desired port. Allow appropriate permissions to run the “mvnw” script file. chmod +x mvnw Run the application ./mvnw spring-boot:run Open your browser and type in your localhost/remote host IP (format: [host-ip:port]) in the browser search bar. If you are running a remote host, please do not forget to update your firewall/NSG to allow inbound connection to the configured port. You should see the web app to generate video with Sora AI using the API provided on Azure AI Foundry. Now, let’s generate a video with Sora Video Generator. Enter a prompt in the first text field, choose the video pixel resolution, and set the video duration. (Due to technical limitation, Sora can only generate video of a maximum of 20 seconds). Click on the “Generate video” button to proceed. The cost to generate the video should be displayed below the “Generate Video” button, for transparency purposes. You can click on the “View Breakdown” button to learn more about the cost breakdown. The video should be ready to download after a maximum of 5 minutes. You can check the status of the video by clicking on the “Check Status” button on the web app. The web app will inform you once the download is ready and the page should refresh every 10 seconds to fetch real-time update from Sora. Once it is ready, click on the “Download Video” button to download the video. Conclusion Generating AI videos with Sora on Azure AI Foundry is a game-changer for content creators, marketers, and developers. By following the steps outlined in this guide, you can set up your environment, integrate Sora, and start creating stunning AI-generated videos. Experiment with different prompts, optimize your workflow, and let your imagination run wild! Have you tried generating AI videos with Sora or Azure AI Foundry? Share your experiences or questions in the comments below. Don’t forget to subscribe for more AI and cloud computing tutorials!AI Agents: Building Trustworthy Agents- Part 6
This blog post, Part 6 in a series on AI agents, focuses on building trustworthy AI agents. It emphasizes the importance of safety and security in agent design and deployment. The post details a system message framework for creating robust and scalable prompts, outlining a four-step process from meta prompt to iterative refinement. It then explores various threats to AI agents, including task manipulation, unauthorized access, resource overloading, knowledge base poisoning, and cascading errors, providing mitigation strategies for each. The post also highlights the human-in-the-loop approach for enhanced trust and control, providing a code example using AutoGen. Finally, it links to further resources on responsible AI, model evaluation, and risk assessment, along with the previous posts in the series.S2E01 Recap: Advanced Reasoning Session
About Model Mondays Want to know what Reasoning models are and how you can build advanced reasoning scenarios like a Deep Research agent using Azure AI Foundry? Check out this recap from Model Mondays Season 2 Ep 1. Model Mondays is a weekly series to help you build your model IQ in three steps: 1. Catch the 5-min Highlights on Monday, to get up to speed on model news 2. Catch the 15-min Spotlight on Monday, for a deep-dive into a model or tool 3. Catch the 30-min AMA on Friday, for a Q&A session with subject matter experts Want to follow along? Register Here- to watch upcoming livestreams for Season 2 Visit The Forum- to see the full AMA schedule for Season 2 Register Here - to join the AMA on Friday Jun 20 Spotlight On: Advanced Reasoning This week, the Model Mondays spotlight was on Advanced Reasoning with subject matter expert Marlene Mhangami. In this blog post, I'll talk about my five takeaways from this episode: Why Are Reasoning Models Important? What Is an Advanced Reasoning Scenario? How Can I Get Started with Reasoning Models ? Spotlight: My Aha Moment Highlights: What’s New in Azure AI 1. Why Are Reasoning Models Important? In today's fast-evolving AI landscape, it's no longer enough for models to just complete text or summarize content. We need AI that can: Understand multi-step tasks Make decisions based on logic Plan sequences of actions or queries Connect context across turns Reasoning models are large language models (LLMs) trained with reinforcement learning techniques to "think" before they answer. Rather than simply generating a response based on probability, these models follow an internal thought process producing a chain of reasoning before responding. This makes them ideal for complex problem-solving tasks. And they’re the foundation of building intelligent, context-aware agents. They enable next-gen AI workflows in everything from customer support to legal research and healthcare diagnostics. Reason: They allow AI to go beyond surface-level response and deliver solutions that reflect understanding, not just language patterning. 2. What does Advanced Reasoning involve? An advanced reasoning scenario is one where a model: Breaks a complex prompt into smaller steps Retrieves relevant external data Uses logic to connect dots Outputs a structured, reasoned answer Example: A user asks: What are the financial and operational risks of expanding a startup to Southeast Asia in 2025? This is the kind of question that requires extensive research and analysis. A reasoning model might tackle this by: Retrieving reports on Southeast Asia market conditions Breaking down risks into financial, political, and operational buckets Cross-referencing data with recent trends Returning a reasoned, multi-part answer 3. How Can I Get Started with Reasoning Models? To get started, you need to visit a catalog that has examples of these models. Try the GitHub Models Marketplace and look for the reasoning category in the filter. Try the Azure AI Foundry model catalog and look for reasoning models by name. Example: The o-series of models from Azure Open AI The DeepSeek-R1 models The Grok 3 models The Phi-4 reasoning models Next, you can use SDKs or Playground for exploring the model capabiliies. 1. Try Lab 331 - for a beginner-friendly guide. 2. Try Lab 333 - for an advanced project. 3. Try the GitHub Model Playground - to compare reasoning and GPT models. 4. Try the Deep Research Agent using LangChain - sample as a great starting project. Have questions or comments? Join the Friday AMA on Azure AI Foundry Discord: 4. Spotlight: My Aha Moment Before this session, I thought reasoning meant longer or more detailed responses. But this session helped me realize that reasoning means structured thinking — models now plan, retrieve, and respond with logic. This inspired me to think about building AI agents that go beyond chat and actually assist users like a teammate. It also made me want to dive deeper into LangChain + Azure AI workflows to build mini-agents for real-world use. 5. Highlights: What’s New in Azure AI Here’s what’s new in the Azure AI Foundry: Direct From Azure Models - Try hosted models like OpenAI GPT on PTU plans SORA Video Playground - Generate video from prompts via SORA models Grok 3 Models - Now available for secure, scalable LLM experiences DeepSeek R1-0528 - A reasoning-optimized, Microsoft-tuned open-source model These are all available in the Azure Model Catalog and can be tried with your Azure account. Did You Know? Your first step is to find the right model for your task. But what if you could have the model automatically selected for you_ based on the prompt you provide? That's the magic of Model Router a deployable AI chat model that dynamically selects the best LLM based on your prompt. Instead of choosing one model manually, the Router makes that choice in real time. Currently, this works with a fixed set of Azure OpenAI models, including a reasoning model option. Keep an eye on the documentation for more updates. Why it’s powerful: Saves cost by switching between models based on complexity Optimizes performance by selecting the right model for the task Lets you test and compare model outputs quickly Try it out in Azure AI Foundry or read more in the Model Catalog Coming Up Next Next week, we dive into Model Context Protocol, an open protocol that empowers agentic AI applications by making it easier to discover and integrate knowledge and action tools with your model choices. Register Here to get reminded - and join us live on Monday! Join The Community Great devs don't build alone! In a fast-pased developer ecosystem, there's no time to hunt for help. That's why we have the Azure AI Developer Community. Join us today and let's journey together! Join the Discord - for real-time chats, events & learning Explore the Forum - for AMA recaps, Q&A, and help! About Me. I'm Sharda, a Gold Microsoft Learn Student Ambassador interested in cloud and AI. Find me on Github, Dev.to,, Tech Community and Linkedin. In this blog series I have summarizef my takeaways from this week's Model Mondays livestream .
CampusSphere: Building the Future of Campus AI with Microsoft's Agentic Framework
Project Overview We are a team of Imperial College Students committed to improving campus life through innovative multi-agent solutions. CampusSphere leverages Microsoft Azure AI capabilities to automate core university campus services. We created an end-to-end solution that allows both students and staff to access a multi-agent framework for room/gym booking, attendance tracking, calendar management, IoT monitoring and more. 🔭 Our Initial Vision: Reimagining Campus Technology When our team at Imperial College London embarked on the CampusSphere project as part of Microsoft's Agentic Campus initiative, we had one clear ambition: to create an intelligent campus ecosystem that would fundamentally change how students, faculty, and staff interact with university services. The inspiration came from a simple observation—despite living in an age of advanced AI, campus technology remained frustratingly fragmented. Students juggled multiple portals for course registration, room booking, dining services, and academic support. Faculty members navigated separate systems for teaching, research, and administrative tasks. The result? Countless hours wasted on mundane navigation tasks that could be better spent on learning, teaching, and innovation. Our vision was ambitious: create a single, intelligent interface that could understand natural language, anticipate user needs, and seamlessly integrate with existing campus infrastructure. We didn't just want to build another campus app—we wanted to demonstrate how Microsoft's agentic AI technologies could create a truly intelligent campus companion. 🧠 Enter CampusSphere CampusSphere is an intelligent campus assistant made up of multiple AI agents, each with a specific domain of expertise — all communicating seamlessly through a centralized architecture. Think of it as a digital concierge for campus life, where your calendar, attendance, IoT data, and facility bookings are coordinated by specialized GPT-powered agents. Here’s what we built: TriageAgent – the brain of the system, using Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) to understand user intent CalendarAgent – handles scheduling, bookings, and reminders AttendanceAgent – tracks check-ins automatically IoTAgent – monitors real-time sensor data from classrooms and labs GymAgent – manages access and reservations for sports facilities 30+ MCP Tools – perform SQL queries, scrape web data, and connect with external APIs All of this is built on Microsoft Azure AI, Semantic Kernel, and Model Context Protocol (MCP) — making it scalable, secure, and lightning fast. 🖥️ The Tech Stack Our Azure-powered architecture showcases a modular and scalable approach to real-time data processing and intelligent agent coordination. The frontend is built using React with a Vite development server, providing a fast and responsive user interface. When users submit a prompt, it travels to a Flask backend server acting as the Triage agent, which intelligently delegates tasks to a FastAPI agent service. This FastAPI service asynchronously communicates with individual agents and handles responses efficiently. Complex queries are routed to MCP Tools, which interact with the CosmosDB-powered Campus Database. Simultaneously, real-time synthetic IoT data is pushed into the database via Azure Function Apps and Azure IoT Hub. Authentication is securely managed: users log in through the frontend, receive a token from the database API server, and use it for authorized access to MCP services, with permissions enforced based on user roles using our custom MCP server implementation. This robust architecture enables seamless integration, real-time data flow, and secure multi-agent collaboration across Azure services. Our system leverages a multi-agent architecture designed to intelligently coordinate task execution across specialized services. At the core is the TriageAgent, which uses Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) to interpret user prompts, enrich them with relevant context, and determine the optimal response path. Based on the nature of the request, it may handle the response directly, seek clarification, or delegate tasks to specific agents via FastAPI. Each specialized agent has a clearly defined role: AttendanceAgent: Interfaces with CosmosDB-backed FastAPI endpoints to check student attendance, using filters like event name, student ID, or date. IoTAgent: Monitors room conditions (e.g., temperature, CO₂ levels) and flags anomalies using real-time data from Azure IoT Hub, processed via FastAPI. CalendarAgent: Handles scheduling, availability checks, and event creation by querying or updating CosmosDB through FastAPI. Future integration with Microsoft Graph API is planned for direct calendar syncing. Gym Slot Agent: Checks available times for gym sessions using dedicated MCP tools. The triage agent serves as the orchestrator, breaking down complex requests (like "Book a gym session") into subtasks. It consults relevant agents (e.g., calendar and gym slot agents), merges results, and then confirms the final action with the user. This distributed and asynchronous workflow reduces backend load and enhances both responsiveness and reliability of the system. 🔮 What’s Next? Integrating CampusSphere with live systems via Microsoft OAuth is crucial for enhancing its capabilities. This integration will grant the agent authenticated access to a wider range of student data, moving beyond synthetic datasets. This expanded access to real-world information will enable deeply personalized advice, such as tailored course selection, scholarship recommendations, event suggestions, and deadline reminders, transforming CampusSphere into a sophisticated, proactive personal assistant. 🤝Meet the Team Behind CampusSphere Our success stemmed from a diverse team of innovators who brought together expertise from multiple domains: Benny Liu - https://www.linkedin.com/in/zong-benny-liu-393a4621b/ Lucas Ng - https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucas-ng-11b317203/ Lu Ju - https://www.linkedin.com/in/lu-ju/ Bruno Duaso - https://www.linkedin.com/in/bruno-duaso-jimeno-744464262/ Martim Coutinho - https://www.linkedin.com/in/martim-pereira-coutinho-116308233/ Krischad Pourpongpan - https://www.linkedin.com/in/krischadpua/ Yixu Pan - https://www.linkedin.com/in/yixu-pan/ Our collaborative approach enabled us to create a sophisticated agentic AI system that demonstrates the powerful potential of Microsoft's AI technologies in educational environments. 🧑💻 Project Repository: GitHub - Imperial-Microsoft-Agentic-Campus/CampusSphere Contribute to Imperial-Microsoft-Agentic-Campus/CampusSphere development by creating an account on GitHub. github.com Have questions about implementing similar solutions at your institution? Connect with our team members on LinkedIn—we're always excited to share knowledge and collaborate on innovative campus technology projects. 📚Get Started with Microsoft's AI Tools Ready to explore the technologies that made CampusSphere possible? Here are essential resources: Microsoft Semantic Kernel: The core framework for building AI agent orchestration systems. Learn how to create, coordinate, and manage multiple AI agents working together seamlessly. AI Agents for Beginners: A comprehensive guide to understanding and building AI agents from the ground up. Perfect for getting started with agentic AI development. Model Context Protocol (MCP): Learn about the protocol that enables secure connections between AI models and external tools and services—essential for building integrated AI systems. Windows AI Toolkit: Microsoft's toolkit for developing AI applications on Windows, providing local AI model development capabilities and deployment tools. Azure Container Apps: Understand how to deploy and scale containerized AI applications in the cloud, perfect for hosting multi-agent systems. Azure Cosmos DB Security: Essential security practices for managing data in AI applications, covering encryption, access control, and compliance.How Microsoft Semantic Kernel Transforms Proven Workflows into Intelligent Agents
Most developers today face a common challenge when integrating AI into their applications: the gap between natural language prompts and actual code execution. While services like OpenAI's ChatGPT excel at generating responses, they can't directly interact with your existing systems, databases, or business logic. You're left building complex orchestration layers, managing function calls manually, and creating brittle workflows that break when requirements change. Microsoft Semantic Kernel changes this paradigm entirely. Unlike traditional LLM integrations where you send a prompt and receive text, Semantic Kernel acts as an AI orchestration layer that bridges natural language with your existing codebase. Semantic Kernel intelligently decides which of your trusted functions to execute, chains your reliable workflows together automatically, and handles the complete workflow from user intent to business outcome using your proven business logic rather than asking the LLM to handle complex tasks with the risk of hallucinating solutions. What Makes Semantic Kernel Different The Traditional (Novice) LLM Integration Problem Meet Kemi, a data analyst who has spent months perfecting a Python script that generates exactly the sales visualizations her team needs. Her workflow is reliable: run the script, review the charts, write insights based on patterns she knows matter to the business, and deliver a concise report. Excited about AI's potential, Kemi decides to "upgrade" her process with ChatGPT. She uploads her sales data and asks the model to create visualizations and analysis. The LLM responds by generating an entirely new script with a dozen different chart types - many irrelevant to her business needs. She then has to upload the generated images back to the model for analysis, hoping it will provide accurate insights. The result? Instead of streamlining her proven workflow, Kemi now has: Unreliable outputs: The LLM generates different charts each time, some irrelevant to business decisions Loss of domain expertise: Her carefully crafted analysis logic is replaced by generic AI interpretations Broken workflow: What was once a single script is now a multi-step process of uploading, generating, downloading, and re-uploading Reduced confidence: She can't trust the AI's business recommendations the way she trusted her own tested methodology More complexity, not less: Her "AI upgrade" created more steps and uncertainty than her original manual process Kemi's experience reflects a common pitfall: replacing proven business logic with unpredictable LLM generation rather than enhancing existing workflows with intelligent orchestration. A Better Approach: Semantic Kernel Integration In this article, I present a better approach that solves Kemi's problem entirely. Instead of replacing her proven workflows with unpredictable AI generation, we'll show how Microsoft Semantic Kernel transforms her existing script into an intelligent agent that preserves her business logic while adding natural language control. By the end of this article, you'll have a solid grasp of how to integrate Semantic Kernel into your own workflows - whether that's connecting weather APIs for automated marketing campaigns, database queries for sales reporting, or Teams notifications for development task management. The principles you'll learn here apply to automating any specific marketing, sales, or development task where you want AI orchestration without sacrificing the reliability of your existing business logic. The Semantic Kernel Transformation Let's see how Semantic Kernel solves Kemi's workflow problem by transforming her existing script into an intelligent agent that preserves her business logic while adding natural language orchestration. The Complete Example Before: Kemi's Original Script After: Smart Business Agent Full Repository: semantic-kernel-business-agent Kemi's Original Functions Kemi's script contains two core functions that she's refined over months: get_sales_summary(): Calculates total sales, daily averages, and key metrics create_basic_chart(): Generates a reliable sales trend visualization These functions work perfectly for her needs, but require manual orchestration and individual execution. Setting Up the Foundation First, Kemi needs to install the required libraries and set up her OpenAI credentials: pip install semantic-kernel pandas matplotlib python-dotenv She creates a .env file to securely store her OpenAI API key: OPENAI_API_KEY=your-openai-api-key-here Get your OpenAI API key from platform.openai.com → API Keys Step 1: From Manual Function Calls to Kernel Functions In her original script, Kemi had to manually orchestrate everything: # From basic_data_analysis.py - Kemi's manual workflow analyzer = DataAnalyzer() print(analyzer.get_sales_summary()) # She manually calls this analyzer.create_basic_chart() # Then manually calls this With Semantic Kernel, she transforms these exact same functions into AI-discoverable capabilities: from semantic_kernel.functions import kernel_function from typing import Annotated @kernel_function( description="Get sales performance summary with total sales, averages, and trends", name="get_sales_summary" ) def get_sales_summary(self) -> Annotated[str, "Sales summary with key metrics"]: # Kemi's exact same trusted business logic - unchanged! total_sales = self.sales_data['sales'].sum() avg_daily_sales = self.sales_data['sales'].mean() return f"Total: ${total_sales:,}, Daily Avg: ${avg_daily_sales:.2f}" She's not replacing her proven logic with AI generation - she's making her existing, reliable functions available to intelligent orchestration. Step 2: Enhancing Her Chart Function with Smart Parameters Kemi's original create_basic_chart() only made one type of chart. With SK, she can enhance it to be more versatile while keeping the core logic: ( description="Create and save a sales performance chart visualization", name="create_sales_chart" ) def create_sales_chart( self, chart_type: Annotated[str, "Type of chart: 'trend', 'regional', or 'product'"] = "trend" ) -> Annotated[str, "Confirmation that chart was created"]: # Kemi's same matplotlib logic, now with intelligent chart selection plt.figure(figsize=(12, 8)) if chart_type == "trend": plt.plot(self.sales_data['date'], self.sales_data['sales'], marker='o') plt.title('Sales Trend Over Time', fontsize=16) # ... rest of her charting logic Step 3: Adding New Capabilities She Always Wanted Now she can add functions she never had time to build manually, like automated insights and report sending: ( description="Send performance report via email to team", name="send_report" ) def send_report(self, recipient: Annotated[str, "Email address"]) -> Annotated[str, "Confirmation"]: # For now, simulated - but she could easily integrate real email here return f"📧 Performance report sent to {recipient}" Step 4: Creating the Intelligent Agent Here's where the magic happens - connecting her functions to Semantic Kernel: from semantic_kernel import Kernel from semantic_kernel.connectors.ai.open_ai import OpenAIChatCompletion from semantic_kernel.connectors.ai import FunctionChoiceBehavior from dotenv import load_dotenv load_dotenv() # Load her OpenAI key class SmartBusinessAgent: def __init__(self): # Initialize the kernel self.kernel = Kernel() # Connect to OpenAI self.kernel.add_service( OpenAIChatCompletion( service_id="business_agent", api_key=os.getenv("OPENAI_API_KEY"), ai_model_id="gpt-4o-mini" ) ) # Register Kemi's functions as AI-accessible tools self.kernel.add_plugin(SmartBusinessPlugin(), plugin_name="business") # Enable automatic function orchestration self.execution_settings = OpenAIChatPromptExecutionSettings( function_choice_behavior=FunctionChoiceBehavior.Auto() ) Step 5: The Natural Language Interface Now Kemi can interact with her proven workflows using natural language: async def process_request(self, user_request: str) -> str: result = await self.kernel.invoke_prompt( prompt=f"You are a business intelligence agent. You can analyze sales data, create charts, generate insights, and send reports.\n\nRequest: {user_request}", arguments=KernelArguments(settings=self.execution_settings) ) return str(result) The Transformation in Action Before - Kemi's manual, step-by-step process: analyzer = DataAnalyzer() summary = analyzer.get_sales_summary() # She decides to call this chart = analyzer.create_basic_chart() # Then she decides to call this # Then she manually writes insights and sends emails After - Intelligent orchestration of her same functions: agent = SmartBusinessAgent() response = await agent.process_request( "Analyze our sales performance, create relevant charts, and email the full report to sarah@company.com" ) # SK automatically calls: get_sales_summary() → create_sales_chart("trend") → # create_sales_chart("regional") → get_business_insights() → send_report("sarah@company.com") The breakthrough: Kemi keeps her trusted business logic intact while gaining an intelligent interface that can understand complex requests, automatically determine which of her functions to call, and handle multi-step workflows - all while using her proven, reliable analysis methods instead of unpredictable AI generation. This is the core power of Semantic Kernel: enhancing existing workflows with AI orchestration rather than replacing proven business logic with risky hallucination-prone generation. Whether you're working with weather APIs for marketing automation, database queries for sales reporting, or Teams notifications for development workflows, these same patterns apply. You can keep your proven logic and enhance with AI orchestration. Try It Yourself Ready to transform your own workflows? Here's how to get started: 1. Clone and Run the Complete Example git clone https://github.com/your-username/semantic-kernel-business-agent cd semantic-kernel-business-agent pip install -r requirements.txt 2. Set Up Your Environment # Add your OpenAI API key cp .env.example .env # Edit .env and add: OPENAI_API_KEY=your-key-here 3. Experience the Transformation # Run Kemi's original manual script python basic_data_analysis.py # Then run the intelligent agent python smart_business_agent.py 4. Experiment with Natural Language Requests Try these prompts with the smart agent: "Give me a comprehensive sales analysis with multiple chart types" "Create regional performance charts and send insights to my email" "What trends should we focus on for next quarter's strategy?" Watch how Semantic Kernel automatically orchestrates Kemi's trusted functions to fulfill complex, multi-step requests. Next Steps: Adapt to Your Workflow Take your own scripts and apply the same transformation: Identify your core functions (like Kemi's get_sales_summary() and create_basic_chart()) Add decorators with clear descriptions Create your agent class connecting to your preferred LLM Test with natural language requests that combine multiple functions The full repository includes additional examples and documentation to help you extend these concepts to your specific use cases. The goal isn't to replace your expertise with AI - it's to make your expertise accessible through intelligent, natural language orchestration. Start with the working example, then gradually transform your own workflows. You'll discover that Semantic Kernel doesn't just automate tasks - it amplifies your existing capabilities while keeping you in control of the business logic that matters. Further Reading Introduction to Semantic Kernel
