Building with Azure OpenAI Sora: A Complete Guide to AI Video Generation
In this comprehensive guide, we'll explore how to integrate both Sora 1 and Sora 2 models from Azure OpenAI Service into a production web application. We'll cover API integration, request body parameters, cost analysis, limitations, and the key differences between using Azure AI Foundry endpoints versus OpenAI's native API. Table of Contents Introduction to Sora Models Azure AI Foundry vs. OpenAI API Structure API Integration: Request Body Parameters Video Generation Modes Cost Analysis per Generation Technical Limitations & Constraints Resolution & Duration Support Implementation Best Practices Introduction to Sora Models Sora is OpenAI's groundbreaking text-to-video model that generates realistic videos from natural language descriptions. Azure AI Foundry provides access to two versions: Sora 1: The original model focused primarily on text-to-video generation with extensive resolution options (480p to 1080p) and flexible duration (1-20 seconds) Sora 2: The enhanced version with native audio generation, multiple generation modes (text-to-video, image-to-video, video-to-video remix), but more constrained resolution options (720p only in public preview) Azure AI Foundry vs. OpenAI API Structure Key Architectural Differences Sora 1 uses Azure's traditional deployment-based API structure: Endpoint Pattern: https://{resource-name}.openai.azure.com/openai/deployments/{deployment-name}/... Parameters: Uses Azure-specific naming like n_seconds, n_variants, separate width/height fields Job Management: Uses /jobs/{id} for status polling Content Download: Uses /video/generations/{generation_id}/content/video Sora 2 adapts OpenAI's v1 API format while still being hosted on Azure: Endpoint Pattern: https://{resource-name}.openai.azure.com/openai/deployments/{deployment-name}/videos Parameters: Uses OpenAI-style naming like seconds (string), size (combined dimension string like "1280x720") Job Management: Uses /videos/{video_id} for status polling Content Download: Uses /videos/{video_id}/content Why This Matters? This architectural difference requires conditional request formatting in your code: const isSora2 = deployment.toLowerCase().includes('sora-2'); if (isSora2) { requestBody = { model: deployment, prompt, size: `${width}x${height}`, // Combined format seconds: duration.toString(), // String type }; } else { requestBody = { model: deployment, prompt, height, // Separate dimensions width, n_seconds: duration.toString(), // Azure naming n_variants: variants, }; } API Integration: Request Body Parameters Sora 1 API Parameters Standard Text-to-Video Request: { "model": "sora-1", "prompt": "Wide shot of a child flying a red kite in a grassy park, golden hour sunlight, camera slowly pans upward.", "height": "720", "width": "1280", "n_seconds": "12", "n_variants": "2" } Parameter Details: model (String, Required): Your Azure deployment name prompt (String, Required): Natural language description of the video (max 32000 chars) height (String, Required): Video height in pixels width (String, Required): Video width in pixels n_seconds (String, Required): Duration (1-20 seconds) n_variants (String, Optional): Number of variations to generate (1-4, constrained by resolution) Sora 2 API Parameters Text-to-Video Request: { "model": "sora-2", "prompt": "A serene mountain landscape with cascading waterfalls, cinematic drone shot", "size": "1280x720", "seconds": "12" } Image-to-Video Request (uses FormData): const formData = new FormData(); formData.append('model', 'sora-2'); formData.append('prompt', 'Animate this image with gentle wind movement'); formData.append('size', '1280x720'); formData.append('seconds', '8'); formData.append('input_reference', imageFile); // JPEG/PNG/WebP Video-to-Video Remix Request: Endpoint: POST .../videos/{video_id}/remix Body: Only { "prompt": "your new description" } The original video's structure, motion, and framing are reused while applying the new prompt Parameter Details: model (String, Optional): Your deployment name prompt (String, Required): Video description size (String, Optional): Either "720x1280" or "1280x720" (defaults to "720x1280") seconds (String, Optional): "4", "8", or "12" (defaults to "4") input_reference (File, Optional): Reference image for image-to-video mode remix_video_id (String, URL parameter): ID of video to remix Video Generation Modes 1. Text-to-Video (Both Models) The foundational mode where you provide a text prompt describing the desired video. Implementation: const response = await fetch(endpoint, { method: 'POST', headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json', 'api-key': apiKey, }, body: JSON.stringify({ model: deployment, prompt: "A train journey through mountains with dramatic lighting", size: "1280x720", seconds: "12", }), }); Best Practices: Include shot type (wide, close-up, aerial) Describe subject, action, and environment Specify lighting conditions (golden hour, dramatic, soft) Add camera movement if desired (pans, tilts, tracking shots) 2. Image-to-Video (Sora 2 Only) Generate a video anchored to or starting from a reference image. Key Requirements: Supported formats: JPEG, PNG, WebP Image dimensions must exactly match the selected video resolution Our implementation automatically resizes uploaded images to match Implementation Detail: // Resize image to match video dimensions const targetWidth = parseInt(width); const targetHeight = parseInt(height); const resizedImage = await resizeImage(inputReference, targetWidth, targetHeight); // Send as multipart/form-data formData.append('input_reference', resizedImage); 3. Video-to-Video Remix (Sora 2 Only) Create variations of existing videos while preserving their structure and motion. Use Cases: Change weather conditions in the same scene Modify time of day while keeping camera movement Swap subjects while maintaining composition Adjust artistic style or color grading Endpoint Structure: POST {base_url}/videos/{original_video_id}/remix?api-version=2024-08-01-preview Implementation: let requestEndpoint = endpoint; if (isSora2 && remixVideoId) { const [baseUrl, queryParams] = endpoint.split('?'); const root = baseUrl.replace(/\/videos$/, ''); requestEndpoint = `${root}/videos/${remixVideoId}/remix${queryParams ? '?' + queryParams : ''}`; } Cost Analysis per Generation Sora 1 Pricing Model Base Rate: ~$0.05 per second per variant at 720p Resolution Scaling: Cost scales linearly with pixel count Formula: const basePrice = 0.05; const basePixels = 1280 * 720; // Reference resolution const currentPixels = width * height; const resolutionMultiplier = currentPixels / basePixels; const totalCost = basePrice * duration * variants * resolutionMultiplier; Examples: 720p (1280×720), 12 seconds, 1 variant: $0.60 1080p (1920×1080), 12 seconds, 1 variant: $1.35 720p, 12 seconds, 2 variants: $1.20 Sora 2 Pricing Model Flat Rate: $0.10 per second per variant (no resolution scaling in public preview) Formula: const totalCost = 0.10 * duration * variants; Examples: 720p (1280×720), 4 seconds: $0.40 720p (1280×720), 12 seconds: $1.20 720p (720×1280), 8 seconds: $0.80 Note: Since Sora 2 currently only supports 720p in public preview, resolution doesn't affect cost, only duration matters. Cost Comparison Scenario Sora 1 (720p) Sora 2 (720p) Winner 4s video $0.20 $0.40 Sora 1 12s video $0.60 $1.20 Sora 1 12s + audio N/A (no audio) $1.20 Sora 2 (unique) Image-to-video N/A $0.40-$1.20 Sora 2 (unique) Recommendation: Use Sora 1 for cost-effective silent videos at various resolutions. Use Sora 2 when you need audio, image/video inputs, or remix capabilities. Technical Limitations & Constraints Sora 1 Limitations Resolution Options: 9 supported resolutions from 480×480 to 1920×1080 Includes square, portrait, and landscape formats Full list: 480×480, 480×854, 854×480, 720×720, 720×1280, 1280×720, 1080×1080, 1080×1920, 1920×1080 Duration: Flexible: 1 to 20 seconds Any integer value within range Variants: Depends on resolution: 1080p: Variants disabled (n_variants must be 1) 720p: Max 2 variants Other resolutions: Max 4 variants Concurrent Jobs: Maximum 2 jobs running simultaneously Job Expiration: Videos expire 24 hours after generation Audio: No audio generation (silent videos only) Sora 2 Limitations Resolution Options (Public Preview): Only 2 options: 720×1280 (portrait) or 1280×720 (landscape) No square formats No 1080p support in current preview Duration: Fixed options only: 4, 8, or 12 seconds No custom durations Defaults to 4 seconds if not specified Variants: Not prominently supported in current API documentation Focus is on single high-quality generations with audio Concurrent Jobs: Maximum 2 jobs (same as Sora 1) Job Expiration: 24 hours (same as Sora 1) Audio: Native audio generation included (dialogue, sound effects, ambience) Shared Constraints Concurrent Processing: Both models enforce a limit of 2 concurrent video jobs per Azure resource. You must wait for one job to complete before starting a third. Job Lifecycle: queued → preprocessing → processing/running → completed Download Window: Videos are available for 24 hours after completion. After expiration, you must regenerate the video. Generation Time: Typical: 1-5 minutes depending on resolution, duration, and API load Can occasionally take longer during high demand Resolution & Duration Support Matrix Sora 1 Support Matrix Resolution Aspect Ratio Max Variants Duration Range Use Case 480×480 Square 4 1-20s Social thumbnails 480×854 Portrait 4 1-20s Mobile stories 854×480 Landscape 4 1-20s Quick previews 720×720 Square 4 1-20s Instagram posts 720×1280 Portrait 2 1-20s TikTok/Reels 1280×720 Landscape 2 1-20s YouTube shorts 1080×1080 Square 1 1-20s Premium social 1080×1920 Portrait 1 1-20s Premium vertical 1920×1080 Landscape 1 1-20s Full HD content Sora 2 Support Matrix Resolution Aspect Ratio Duration Options Audio Generation Modes 720×1280 Portrait 4s, 8s, 12s ✅ Yes Text, Image, Video Remix 1280×720 Landscape 4s, 8s, 12s ✅ Yes Text, Image, Video Remix Note: Sora 2's limited resolution options in public preview are expected to expand in future releases. Implementation Best Practices 1. Job Status Polling Strategy Implement adaptive backoff to avoid overwhelming the API: const maxAttempts = 180; // 15 minutes max let attempts = 0; const baseDelayMs = 3000; // Start with 3 seconds while (attempts < maxAttempts) { const response = await fetch(statusUrl, { headers: { 'api-key': apiKey }, }); if (response.status === 404) { // Job not ready yet, wait longer const delayMs = Math.min(15000, baseDelayMs + attempts * 1000); await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, delayMs)); attempts++; continue; } const job = await response.json(); // Check completion (different status values for Sora 1 vs 2) const isCompleted = isSora2 ? job.status === 'completed' : job.status === 'succeeded'; if (isCompleted) break; // Adaptive backoff const delayMs = Math.min(15000, baseDelayMs + attempts * 1000); await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, delayMs)); attempts++; } 2. Handling Different Response Structures Sora 1 Video Download: const generations = Array.isArray(job.generations) ? job.generations : []; const genId = generations[0]?.id; const videoUrl = `${root}/${genId}/content/video`; Sora 2 Video Download: const videoUrl = `${root}/videos/${jobId}/content`; 3. Error Handling try { const response = await fetch(endpoint, fetchOptions); if (!response.ok) { const error = await response.text(); throw new Error(`Video generation failed: ${error}`); } // ... handle successful response } catch (error) { console.error('[VideoGen] Error:', error); // Implement retry logic or user notification } 4. Image Preprocessing for Image-to-Video Always resize images to match the target video resolution: async function resizeImage(file: File, targetWidth: number, targetHeight: number): Promise<File> { return new Promise((resolve, reject) => { const img = new Image(); const canvas = document.createElement('canvas'); const ctx = canvas.getContext('2d'); img.onload = () => { canvas.width = targetWidth; canvas.height = targetHeight; ctx.drawImage(img, 0, 0, targetWidth, targetHeight); canvas.toBlob((blob) => { if (blob) { const resizedFile = new File([blob], file.name, { type: file.type }); resolve(resizedFile); } else { reject(new Error('Failed to create resized image blob')); } }, file.type); }; img.onerror = () => reject(new Error('Failed to load image')); img.src = URL.createObjectURL(file); }); } 5. Cost Tracking Implement cost estimation before generation and tracking after: // Pre-generation estimate const estimatedCost = calculateCost(width, height, duration, variants, soraVersion); // Save generation record await saveGenerationRecord({ prompt, soraModel: soraVersion, duration: parseInt(duration), resolution: `${width}x${height}`, variants: parseInt(variants), generationMode: mode, estimatedCost, status: 'queued', jobId: job.id, }); // Update after completion await updateGenerationStatus(jobId, 'completed', { videoId: finalVideoId }); 6. Progressive User Feedback Provide detailed status updates during the generation process: const statusMessages: Record<string, string> = { 'preprocessing': 'Preprocessing your request...', 'running': 'Generating video...', 'processing': 'Processing video...', 'queued': 'Job queued...', 'in_progress': 'Generating video...', }; onProgress?.(statusMessages[job.status] || `Status: ${job.status}`); Conclusion Building with Azure OpenAI's Sora models requires understanding the nuanced differences between Sora 1 and Sora 2, both in API structure and capabilities. Key takeaways: Choose the right model: Sora 1 for resolution flexibility and cost-effectiveness; Sora 2 for audio, image inputs, and remix capabilities Handle API differences: Implement conditional logic for parameter formatting and status polling based on model version Respect limitations: Plan around concurrent job limits, resolution constraints, and 24-hour expiration windows Optimize costs: Calculate estimates upfront and track actual usage for better budget management Provide great UX: Implement adaptive polling, progressive status updates, and clear error messages The future of AI video generation is exciting, and Azure AI Foundry provides production-ready access to these powerful models. As Sora 2 matures and limitations are lifted (especially resolution options), we'll see even more creative applications emerge. Resources: Azure AI Foundry Sora Documentation OpenAI Sora API Reference Azure OpenAI Service Pricing This blog post is based on real-world implementation experience building LemonGrab, my AI video generation platform that integrates both Sora 1 and Sora 2 through Azure AI Foundry. The code examples are extracted from production usage.Announcing GPT‑5.2‑Codex in Microsoft Foundry: Enterprise‑Grade AI for Secure Software Engineering
Enterprise developers know the grind: wrestling with legacy code, navigating complex dependency challenges, and waiting on security reviews that stall releases. OpenAI’s GPT‑5.2‑Codex flips that equation and helps engineers ship faster without cutting corners. It’s not just autocomplete; it’s a reasoning engine for real-world software engineering. Generally available starting today through Azure OpenAI in Microsoft Foundry Models, GPT‑5.2‑Codex is built for the realities of enterprise codebases, large repos, evolving requirements, and security constraints that can’t be overlooked. As OpenAI’s most advanced agentic coding model, it brings sustained reasoning, and security-aware assistance directly into the workflows enterprise developers already rely on with Microsoft’s secure and reliable infrastructure. GPT-5.2-Codex at a Glance GPT‑5.2‑Codex is designed for how software gets built in enterprise teams. You start with imperfect inputs including legacy code, partial docs, screenshots, diagrams, and work through multi‑step changes, reviews, and fixes. The model helps keep context, intent, and standards intact across that entire lifecycle, so teams can move faster without sacrificing quality or security. What it enables Work across code and artifacts: Reason over source code alongside screenshots, architecture diagrams, and UI mocks — so implementation stays aligned with design intent. Stay productive in long‑running tasks: Maintain context across migrations, refactors, and investigations, even as requirements evolve. Build and review with security in mind: Get practical support for secure coding patterns, remediation, reviews, and vulnerability analysis — where correctness matters as much as speed. Feature Specs (quick reference) Context window: 400K tokens (approximately 100K lines of code) Supported languages: 50+ including Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, C#, Java, Go, Rust Multimodal inputs: Code, images (UI mocks, diagrams), and natural language API compatibility: Drop-in replacement for existing Codex API calls Use cases where it really pops Legacy modernization with guardrails: Safely migrate and refactor “untouchable” systems by preserving behavior, improving structure, and minimizing regression risk. Large‑scale refactors that don’t lose intent: Execute cross‑module updates and consistency improvements without the typical “one step forward, two steps back” churn. AI‑assisted code review that raises the floor: Catch risky patterns, propose safer alternatives, and improve consistency, especially across large teams and long‑lived codebases. Defensive security workflows at scale: Accelerate vulnerability triage, dependency/path analysis, and remediation when speed matters, but precision matters more. Lower cognitive load in long, multi‑step builds: Keep momentum across multi‑hour sessions: planning, implementing, validating, and iterating with context intact. Pricing Model Input Price/1M Tokens Cached Input Price/1M Tokens Output Price/1M Tokens GPT-5.2-Codex $1.75 $0.175 $14.00 Security Aware by Design, not as an Afterthought For many organizations, AI adoption hinges on one nonnegotiable question: Can this be trusted in security sensitive workflows? GPT-5.2-Codex meaningfully advances the Codex lineage in this area. As models grow more capable, we’ve seen that general reasoning improvements naturally translate into stronger performance in specialized domains — including defensive cybersecurity. With GPT‑5.2‑Codex, this shows up in practical ways: Improved ability to analyze unfamiliar code paths and dependencies Stronger assistance with secure coding patterns and remediation More dependable support during code reviews, vulnerability investigations, and incident response At the same time, Microsoft continues to deploy these capabilities thoughtfully balancing access, safeguards, and platform level controls so enterprises can adopt AI responsibly as capabilities evolve. Why Run GPT-5.2-Codex on Microsoft Foundry? Powerful models matter — but where and how they run matters just as much for enterprise. Organizations choose Microsoft Foundry because it combines Foundry frontier AI with Azure enterprise grade fundamentals: Integrated security, compliance, and governance Deploy GPT-5.2-Codex within existing Azure security boundaries, identity systems, and compliance frameworks — without reinventing controls. Enterprise ready orchestration and tooling Build, evaluate, monitor, and scale AI powered developer experiences using the same platform teams already rely on for production workloads. A unified path from experimentation to scale Foundry makes it easier to move from proof of concept to real deployment —without changing platforms, vendors, or operating assumptions. Trust at the platform level For teams working in regulated or security critical environments, Foundry and Azure provide assurances that go beyond the model itself. Together with GitHub Copilot, Microsoft Foundry provides a unified developer experience — from in‑IDE assistance to production‑grade AI workflows — backed by Azure’s security, compliance, and global scale. This is where GPT-5.2-Codex becomes not just impressive but adoptable. Get Started Today Explore GPT‑5.2‑Codex in Microsoft today. Start where you already work: Try GPT‑5.2‑Codex in GitHub Copilot for everyday coding and scale the same model to larger workflows using Azure OpenAI in Microsoft Foundry. Let’s build what’s next with speed and security.Open AI’s GPT-5.1-codex-max in Microsoft Foundry: Igniting a New Era for Enterprise Developers
Announcing GPT-5.1-codex-max: The Future of Enterprise Coding Starts Now We’re thrilled to announce the general availability of OpenAI's GPT-5.1-codex-max in Microsoft Foundry Models; a leap forward that redefines what’s possible for enterprise-grade coding agents. This isn’t just another model release; it’s a celebration of innovation, partnership, and the relentless pursuit of developer empowerment. At Microsoft Ignite, we unveiled Microsoft Foundry: a unified platform where businesses can confidently choose the right model for every job, backed by enterprise-grade reliability. Foundry brings together the best from OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, Black Forest Labs, Cohere, Meta, Mistral, and Microsoft’s own breakthroughs, all under one roof. Our partnership with Anthropic is a testament to our commitment to giving developers access to the most advanced, safe, and high-performing models in the industry. And now, with GPT-5.1-codex-max joining the Foundry family, the possibilities for intelligent applications and agentic workflows have never been greater. GPT 5.1-codex-max is available today in Microsoft Foundry and accessible in Visual Studio Code via the Foundry extension . Meet GPT-5.1-codex-max: Enterprise-Grade Coding Agent for Complex Projects GPT-5.1-codex-max is engineered for those who build the future. Imagine tackling complex, long-running projects without losing context or momentum. GPT-5.1-codex-max delivers efficiency at scale, cross-platform readiness, and proven performance with top scores on SWE-Bench (77.9), the gold standard for AI coding. With GPT-5.1-codex-max, developers can focus on creativity and problem-solving, while the model handles the heavy lifting. GPT-5.1-codex-max isn’t just powerful; it’s practical, designed to solve real challenges for enterprise developers: Multi-Agent Coding Workflows: Automate repetitive tasks across microservices, maintaining shared context for seamless collaboration. Enterprise App Modernization: Effortlessly refactor legacy .NET and Java applications into cloud-native architectures. Secure API Development: Generate and validate secure API endpoints, with `compliance checks built-in for peace of mind. Continuous Integration Support: Integrate GPT-5.1-codex-max into CI/CD pipelines for automated code reviews and test generation, accelerating delivery cycles. These use cases are just the beginning. GPT-5.1-codex-max is your partner in building robust, scalable, and secure solutions. Foundry: Platform Built for Developers Who Build the Future Foundry is more than a model catalog—it’s an enterprise AI platform designed for developers who need choice, reliability, and speed. • Choice Without Compromise: Access the widest range of models, including frontier models from leading model providers. • Enterprise-Grade Infrastructure: Built-in security, observability, and governance for responsible AI at scale. • Integrated Developer Experience: From GitHub to Visual Studio Code, Foundry connects with tools developers love for a frictionless build-to-deploy journey. Start Building Smarter with GPT-5.1-codex-max in Foundry The future is here, and it’s yours to shape. Supercharge your coding workflows with GPT-5.1-codex-max in Microsoft Foundry today. Learn more about Microsoft Foundry: aka.ms/IgniteFoundryModels. Watch Ignite sessions for deep dives and demos: ignite.microsoft.com. Build faster, smarter, and with confidence on the platform redefining enterprise AI.
How to Reliably Gauge LLM Confidence?
a { text-decoration: none; color: #464feb; } tr th, tr td { border: 1px solid #e6e6e6; } tr th { background-color: #f5f5f5; } I’m trying to estimate an LLM’s confidence in its answers in a way that correlates with correctness. Self-reported confidence is often misleading, and raw token probabilities mostly reflect fluency rather than truth. I don’t have grounding options like RAG, human feedback, or online search, so I’m looking for approaches that work in this constraint. What techniques have you found effective—entropy-based signals, calibration (temperature scaling), self-evaluation, or others? Any best practices for making confidence scores actionable?Introducing OpenAI’s GPT-image-1.5 in Microsoft Foundry
Developers building with visual AI can often run into the same frustrations: images that drift from the prompt, inconsistent object placement, text that renders unpredictably, and editing workflows that break when iterating on a single asset. That’s why we are excited to announce OpenAI's GPT Image 1.5 is now generally available in Microsoft Foundry. This model can bring sharper image fidelity, stronger prompt alignment, and faster image generation that supports iterative workflows. Starting today, customers can request access to the model and start building in the Foundry platform. Meet GPT Image 1.5 AI driven image generation began with early models like OpenAI's DALL-E, which introduced the ability to transform text prompts into visuals. Since then, image generation models have been evolving to enhance multimodal AI across industries. GPT Image 1.5 represents continuous improvement in enterprise-grade image generation. Building on the success of GPT Image 1 and GPT Image 1 mini, these enhanced models introduce advanced capabilities that cater to both creative and operational needs. The new image models offer: Text-to-image: Stronger instruction following and highly precise editing. Image-to-image: Transform existing images to iteratively refine specific regions Improved visual fidelity: More detailed scenes and realistic rendering. Accelerated creation times: Up to 4x faster generation speed. Enterprise integration: Deploy and scale securely in Microsoft Foundry. GPT Image 1.5 delivers stronger image preservation and editing capabilities, maintaining critical details like facial likeness, lighting, composition, and color tone across iterative changes. You’ll see more consistent preservation of branded logos and key visuals, making it especially powerful for marketing, brand design, and ecommerce workflows—from graphics and logo creation to generating full product catalogs (variants, environments, and angles) from a single source image. Benchmarks Based on an internal Microsoft dataset, GPT Image 1.5 performs higher than other image generation models in prompt alignment and infographics tasks. It focuses on making clear, strong edits – performing best on single-turn modification, delivering the higher visual quality in both single and multi-turn settings. The following results were found across image generation and editing: Text to image Prompt alignment Diagram / Flowchart GPT Image 1.5 91.2% 96.9% GPT Image 1 87.3% 90.0% Qwen Image 83.9% 33.9% Nano Banana Pro 87.9% 95.3% Image editing Evaluation Aspect Modification Preservation Visual Quality Face Preservation Metrics BinaryEval SC (semantic) DINO (Visual) BinaryEval AuraFace Single-turn GPT image 1 99.2% 51.0% 0.14 79.5% 0.30 Qwen image 81.9% 63.9% 0.44 76.0% 0.85 GPT Image 1.5 100% 56.77% 0.14 89.96% 0.39 Multi-turn GPT Image 1 93.5% 54.7% 0.10 82.8% 0.24 Qwen image 77.3% 68.2% 0.43 77.6% 0.63 GPT image 1.5 92.49% 60.55% 0.15 89.46% 0.28 Using GPT Image 1.5 across industries Whether you’re creating immersive visuals for campaigns, accelerating UI and product design, or producing assets for interactive learning GPT Image 1.5 gives modern enterprises the flexibility and scalability they need. Image models can allow teams to drive deeper engagement through compelling visuals, speed up design cycles for apps, websites, and marketing initiatives, and support inclusivity by generating accessible, high‑quality content for diverse audiences. Watch how Foundry enables developers to iterate with multimodal AI across Black Forest Labs, OpenAI, and more: Microsoft Foundry empowers organizations to deploy these capabilities at scale, integrating image generation seamlessly into enterprise workflows. Explore the use of AI image generation here across industries like: Retail: Generate product imagery for catalogs, e-commerce listings, and personalized shopping experiences. Marketing: Create campaign visuals and social media graphics. Education: Develop interactive learning materials or visual aids. Entertainment: Edit storyboards, character designs, and dynamic scenes for films and games. UI/UX: Accelerate design workflows for apps and websites. Microsoft Foundry provides security and compliance with built-in content safety filters, role-based access, network isolation, and Azure Monitor logging. Integrated governance via Azure Policy, Purview, and Sentinel gives teams real-time visibility and control, so privacy and safety are embedded in every deployment. Learn more about responsible AI at Microsoft. Pricing Model Pricing (per 1M tokens) - Global GPT-image-1.5 Input Tokens: $8 Cached Input Tokens: $2 Output Tokens: $32 Cost efficiency improves as well: image inputs and outputs are now cheaper compared to GPT Image 1, enabling organizations to generate and iterate on more creative assets within the same budget. For detailed pricing, refer here. Getting started Learn more about image generation, explore code samples, and read about responsible AI protections here. Try GPT Image 1.5 in Microsoft Foundry and start building multimodal experiences today. Whether you’re designing educational materials, crafting visual narratives, or accelerating UI workflows, these models deliver the flexibility and performance your organization needs.Staying in the flow: SleekFlow and Azure turn customer conversations into conversions
A customer adds three items to their cart but never checks out. Another asks about shipping, gets stuck waiting eight minutes, only to drop the call. A lead responds to an offer but is never followed up with in time. Each of these moments represents lost revenue, and they happen to businesses every day. SleekFlow was founded in 2019 to help companies turn those almost-lost-customer moments into connection, retention, and growth. Today we serve more than 2,000 mid-market and enterprise organizations across industries including retail and e-commerce, financial services, healthcare, travel and hospitality, telecommunications, real estate, and professional services. In total, those customers rely on SleekFlow to orchestrate more than 600,000 daily customer interactions across WhatsApp, Instagram, web chat, email, and more. Our name reflects what makes us different. Sleek is about unified, polished experiences—consolidating conversations into one intelligent, enterprise-ready platform. Flow is about orchestration—AI and human agents working together to move each conversation forward, from first inquiry to purchase to renewal. The drive for enterprise-ready agentic AI Enterprises today expect always-on, intelligent conversations—but delivering that at scale proved daunting. When we set out to build AgentFlow, our agentic AI platform, we quickly ran into familiar roadblocks: downtime that disrupted peak-hour interactions, vector search delays that hurt accuracy, and costs that ballooned under multi-tenant workloads. Development slowed from limited compatibility with other technologies, while customer onboarding stalled without clear compliance assurances. To move past these barriers, we needed a foundation that could deliver the performance, trust, and global scale enterprises demand. The platform behind the flow: How Azure powers AgentFlow We chose Azure because building AgentFlow required more than raw compute power. Chatbots built on a single-agent model often stall out. They struggle to retrieve the right context, they miss critical handoffs, and they return answers too slowly to keep a customer engaged. To fix that, we needed an ecosystem capable of supporting a team of specialized AI agents working together at enterprise scale. Azure Cosmos DB provides the backbone for memory and context, managing short-term interactions, long-term histories, and vector embeddings in containers that respond in 15–20 milliseconds. Powered by Azure AI Foundry, our agents use Azure OpenAI models within Azure AI Foundry to understand and generate responses natively in multiple languages. Whether in English, Chinese, or Portuguese, the responses feel natural and aligned with the brand. Semantic Kernel acts as the conductor, orchestrating multiple agents, each of which retrieves the necessary knowledge and context, including chat histories, transactional data, and vector embeddings, directly from Azure Cosmos DB. For example, one agent could be retrieving pricing data, another summarizing it, and a third preparing it for a human handoff. The result is not just responsiveness but accuracy. A telecom provider can resolve a billing question while surfacing an upsell opportunity in the same dialogue. A financial advisor can walk into a call with a complete dossier prepared in seconds rather than hours. A retailer can save a purchase by offering an in-stock substitute before the shopper abandons the cart. Each of these conversations is different, yet the foundation is consistent on AgentFlow. Fast, fluent, and focused: Azure keeps conversations moving Speed is the heartbeat of a good conversation. A delayed answer feels like a dropped call, and an irrelevant one breaks trust. For AgentFlow to keep customers engaged, every operation behind the scenes has to happen in milliseconds. A single interaction can involve dozens of steps. One agent pulls product information from embeddings, another checks it against structured policy data, and a third generates a concise, brand-aligned response. If any of these steps lag, the dialogue falters. On Azure, they don’t. Azure Cosmos DB manages conversational memory and agent state across dedicated containers for short-term exchanges, long-term history, and vector search. Sharded DiskANN indexing powers semantic lookups that resolve in the 15–20 millisecond range—fast enough that the customer never feels a pause. Microsoft Phi’s model Phi-4 as well as Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models like o3-mini and o4-mini, provide the reasoning, and Azure Container Apps scale elastically, so performance holds steady during event-driven bursts, such as campaign broadcasts that can push the platform from a few to thousands of conversations per minute, and during daily peak-hour surges. To support that level of responsiveness, we run Azure Container Apps on the Pay-As-You-Go consumption plan, using KEDA-based autoscaling to expand from five idle containers to more than 160 within seconds. Meanwhile, Microsoft Orleans coordinates lightweight in-memory clustering to keep conversations sleek and flowing. The results are tangible. Retrieval-augmented generation recall improved from 50 to 70 percent. Execution speed is about 50 percent faster. For SleekFlow’s customers, that means carts are recovered before they’re abandoned, leads are qualified in real time, and support inquiries move forward instead of stalling out. With Azure handling the complexity under the hood, conversations flow naturally on the surface—and that’s what keeps customers engaged. Secure enough for enterprises, human enough for customers AgentFlow was built with security-by-design as a first principle, giving businesses confidence that every interaction is private, compliant, and reliable. On Azure, every AI agent operates inside guardrails enterprises can depend on. Azure Cosmos DB enforces strict per-tenant isolation through logical partitioning, encryption, and role-based access control, ensuring chat histories, knowledge bases, and embeddings remain auditable and contained. Models deployed through Azure AI Foundry, including Azure OpenAI and Microsoft Phi, process data entirely within SleekFlow’s Azure environment and guarantees it is never used to train public models, with activity logged for transparency. And Azure’s certifications—including ISO 27001, SOC 2, and GDPR—are backed by continuous monitoring and regional data residency options, proving compliance at a global scale. But trust is more than a checklist of certifications. AgentFlow brings human-like fluency and empathy to every interaction, powered by Azure OpenAI running with high token-per-second throughput so responses feel natural in real time. Quality control isn’t left to chance. Human override workflows are orchestrated through Azure Container Apps and Azure App Service, ensuring AI agents can carry conversations confidently until they’re ready for human agents. Enterprises gain the confidence to let AI handle revenue-critical moments, knowing Azure provides the foundation and SleekFlow provides the human-centered design. Shaping the next era of conversational AI on Azure The benefits of Azure show up not only in customer conversations but also in the way our own teams work. Faster processing speeds and high token-per-second throughput reduce latency, so we spend less time debugging and more time building. Stable infrastructure minimizes downtime and troubleshooting, lowering operational costs. That same reliability and scalability have transformed the way we engineer AgentFlow. AgentFlow started as part of our monolithic system. Shipping new features used to take about a month of development and another week of heavy testing to make sure everything held together. After moving AgentFlow to a microservices architecture on Azure Container Apps, we can now deploy updates almost daily with no down time or customer impact. And this is all thanks to native support for rolling updates and blue-green deployments. This agility is what excites us most about what's ahead. With Azure as our foundation, SleekFlow is not simply keeping pace with the evolution of conversational AI—we are shaping what comes next. Every interaction we refine, every second we save, and every workflow we streamline brings us closer to our mission: keeping conversations sleek, flowing, and valuable for enterprises everywhere.Pantone’s Palette Generator enhances creative exploration with agentic AI on Azure
Color can be powerful. When creative professionals shape the mood and direction of their work, color plays a vital role because it provides context and cues for the end product or creation. For more than 60 years, creatives from all areas of design—including fashion, product, and digital—have turned to Pantone color guides to translate inspiration into precise, reproducible color choices. These guides offer a shared language for colors, as well as inspiration and communication across industries. Once rooted in physical tools, Pantone has evolved to meet the needs of modern creators through its trend forecasting, consulting services, and digital platform. Today, Pantone Connect and its multi-agent solution called the Pantone Palette Generator seamlessly bring color inspiration and accuracy into everyday design workflows (as well as the New York City mayoral race). Simply by typing in a prompt, designers can generate palettes in seconds. Available in Pantone Connect, the tool uses Azure services like Microsoft Foundry, Azure AI Search, and Azure Cosmos DB to serve up the company’s vast collection of trend and color research from the color experts at the Pantone Color Institute. reached in seconds instead of days. Now, with Microsoft Foundry, creatives can use agents to get instant color palettes and suggestions based on human insights and trend direction.” Turning Pantone’s color legacy into an AI offering The Palette Generator accelerates the process of researching colors and helps designers find inspiration or validate some of their ideas through trend-backed research. “Pantone wants to be where our customers are,” says Rohani Jotshi, Director of Software Engineering and Data at Pantone. “As workflows become increasingly digital, we wanted to give our customers a way to find inspiration while keeping the same level of accuracy and trust they expect from Pantone.” The Palette Generator taps into thousands of articles from Pantone’s Color Insider library, as well as trend guides and physical color books in a way that preserves the company’s color standards science while streamlining the creative process. Built entirely on Microsoft Foundry, the solution uses Azure AI Search for agentic retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models to reason over the data. It quickly serves up palette options in response to questions like “Show me soft pastels for an eco-friendly line of baby clothes” or “I want to see vibrant metallics for next spring.” Over the course of two months, the Pantone team built the initial proof of concept for the Palette Generator, using GitHub Copilot to streamline the process and save over 200 hours of work across multiple sprints. This allowed Pantone’s engineers to focus on improving prompt engineering, adding new agent capabilities, and refining orchestration logic rather than writing repetitive code. Building a multi-agent architecture that accelerates creativity The Pantone team worked with Microsoft to develop the multi-agent architecture, which is made up of three connected agents. Using Microsoft Agent Framework—an open source development kit for building AI orchestration systems—it was a straightforward process to bring the agents together into one workflow. “The Microsoft team recommended Microsoft Agent Framework and when we tried it, we saw how it was extremely fast and easy to create architectural patterns,” says Kristijan Risteski, Solutions Architect at Pantone. “With Microsoft Agent Framework, we can spin up a model in five lines of code to connect our agents.” When a user types in a question, they interact with an orchestrator agent that routes prompts and coordinates the more specialized agents. Behind the scenes an additional agent retrieves contextually relevant insights from Pantone’s proprietary Color Insider dataset. Using Azure AI Search with vectorized data indexing, this agent interprets the semantics of a user’s query rather than relying solely on keywords. A third agent then applies rules from color science to assemble a balanced palette. This agent ensures the output is a color combination that meets harmony, contrast, and accessibility standards. The result is a set of Pantone-curated colors that match the emotional and aesthetic tone of the request. “All of this happens in seconds,” says Risteski. To manage conversation flow and achieve long-term data persistence, Pantone uses Azure Cosmos DB, which stores user sessions, prompts, and results. The database not only enables designers to revisit past palette explorations but also provides Pantone with valuable usage intelligence to refine the system over time. “We use Azure Cosmos DB to track inputs and outputs,” says Risteski. “That data helps us fine-tune prompts, measure engagement, and plan how we’ll train future models.” Improving accuracy and performance with Azure AI Search With Azure AI Search, the Palette Generator can understand the nuance of color language. Instead of relying solely on keyword searches that might miss the complexity of words like “vibrant” or “muted,” Pantone’s team decided to use a vectorized index for more accurate palette results. Using the built-in vectorization capability of Azure AI Search, the team converted their color knowledge base—including text-based color psychology and trend articles—into numerical embeddings. “Overall, vector search gave us better results because it could understand the intent of the prompt, not just the words,“ says Risteski. “If someone types, ‘Show me colors that feel serene and oceanic,’ the system understands intent. It finds the right references across our color psychology and trend archives and delivers them instantly.” The team also found ways to reduce latency as they evolved their proof of concept. Initially, they encountered slow inference times and performance lags when retrieving search results. By switching from GPT-4.1 to GPT-5, latency improved. And using Azure AI Search to manage ranking and filtering results helped reduce the number of calls to the large language model (LLM). “With Azure, we just get the articles, put them in a bucket, and say ‘index it now,’ says Risteski. “It takes one or two minutes—and that’s it. The results are so much better than traditional search.” Moving from inspiration to palettes faster The Palette Generator has transformed how designers and color enthusiasts interact with Pantone’s expertise. What once took weeks of research and review can now be done in seconds. “Typically, if someone wanted to develop a palette for a product launch, it might take many months of research,” says Jotshi. “Now, they can type one sentence to describe their inspiration then immediately find Pantone-backed insight and options. Human curation will still be hugely important, but a strong set of starting options can significantly accelerate the palette development process.” Expanding the palette: The next phase for Pantone’s design agent Rapidly launching the Palette Generator in beta has redefined what the Pantone engineering team thought was possible. “We’re a small development team, but with Azure we built an enterprise-grade AI system in a matter of weeks,” says Risteski. “That’s a huge win for us.” Next up, the team plans to migrate the entire orchestration layer to Azure Functions, moving to a fully scalable, serverless deployment. This will allow Pantone to run its agents more efficiently, handle variable workloads automatically, and integrate seamlessly with other Azure products such as Microsoft Foundry and Azure Cosmos DB. At the same time, Pantone plans to expand its multi-agent system to include new specialized agents, including one focused on palette harmony and another focused on trend prediction.Azure OpenAI GPT model to review Pull Requests for Azure DevOps
In recent months, the use of Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT) models for natural language processing (NLP) has gained significant traction. GPT models, which are based on the Transformer architecture, can generate text from arbitrary sources of input data and can be trained to identify errors and detect anomalies in text. As such, GPT models are increasingly being used for a variety of applications, ranging from natural language understanding to text summarization and question-answering. In the software development world, developers use pull requests to submit proposed changes to a codebase. However, reviews by other developers can sometimes take a long time and not accurate, and in some cases, these reviews can introduce new bugs and issues. In order to reduce this risk, During my research I found the integration of GPT models is possible and we can add Azure OpenAI service as pull request reviewers for Azure Pipelines service. The GPT models are trained on developer codebases and are able to detect potential coding issues such as typos, syntax errors, style inconsistencies and code smells. In addition, they can also assess code structure and suggest improvements to the overall code quality. Once the GPT models have been trained, they can be integrated into the Azure Pipelines service so that they can automatically review pull requests and provide feedback. This helps to reduce the time taken for code reviews, as well as reduce the likelihood of introducing bugs and issues.Azure OpenAI Model Upgrades: Prompt Safety Pitfalls with GPT-4o and Beyond
Upgrading to New Azure OpenAI Models? Beware Your Old Prompts Might Break. I recently worked on upgrading our Azure OpenAI integration from gpt-35-turbo to gpt-4o-mini, expecting it to be a straightforward configuration change. Just update the Azure Foundry resource endpoint, change the model name, deploy the code — and voilà, everything should work as before. Right? Not quite. The Unexpected Roadblock As soon as I deployed the updated code, I started seeing 400 status errors from the OpenAI endpoint. The message was cryptic: The response was filtered due to the prompt triggering Azure OpenAI's content management policy. At first, I assumed it was a bug in my SDK call or a malformed payload. But after digging deeper, I realized this wasn’t a technical failure — it was a content safety filter kicking in before the prompt even reached the model. The Prompt That Broke It Here’s the original system prompt that worked perfectly with gpt-35-turbo: YOU ARE A QNA EXTRACTOR IN TEXT FORMAT. YOU WILL GET A SET OF SURVEYJS QNA JSONS. YOU WILL CONVERT THAT INTO A TEXT DOCUMENT. FOR THE QUESTIONS WHERE NO ANSWER WAS GIVEN, MARK THOSE AS NO ANSWER. HERE IS THE QNA: BE CREATIVE AND PROFESSIONAL. I WANT TO GENERATE A DOCUMENT TO BE PUBLISHED. {{$style}} +++++ {{$input}} +++++ This prompt had been reliable for months. But with gpt-4o-mini, it triggered Azure’s new input safety layer, introduced in mid-2024. What Changed with GPT-4o-mini? Unlike gpt-35-turbo, the gpt-4o family: Applies stricter content filtering — not just on the output, but also on the input prompt. Treats system messages and user messages as role-based chat messages, passing them through moderation before the model sees them. Flags prompts that look like prompt injection attempts like aggressive instructions like “YOU ARE…”, “BE CREATIVE”, “GENERATE”, “PROFESSIONAL”. Flags unusual formatting (like `+++++`), artificial delimiters or token markers as it may look like encoded content. In short, the model didn’t even get a chance to process my prompt — it was blocked at the gate. Fixing It: Softening the Prompt The solution wasn’t to rewrite the entire logic, but to soften the system prompt and remove formatting that could be misinterpreted. Here’s what helped: - Replacing “YOU ARE…” with a gentler instruction like “Please help convert the following Q&A data…” - Removing creative directives like “BE CREATIVE” or “PROFESSIONAL” unless clearly contextualized. - Avoiding raw JSON markers and template syntax (`{{ }}`, `+++++`) in the prompt. Once I made these changes, the model responded smoothly — and the upgrade was finally complete. Evolving the Prompt — Not Abandoning It Interestingly, for some prompts I didn’t have to completely eliminate the “YOU ARE…” structure. Instead, I refined it to be more natural and less directive. Here’s a comparison: ❌ Old Prompt (Blocked) ✅ New Prompt (Accepted) YOU ARE A SOURCING AND PROCUREMENT MANAGER. YOU WILL GET BUYER'S REQUIREMENTS IN QNA FORMAT. HERE IS THE QNA: {{$input}} +++++ YOU WILL GENERATE TOP 10 {{$category}} RELATED QUESTIONS THAT CAN BE ASKED OF A SUPPLIER IN JSON FORMAT. THE JSON MUST HAVE QUESTION NUMBER AS THE KEY AND QUESTION TEXT AS THE QUESTION. DON'T ADD ANY DESCRIPTION TEXT OR FORMATTING IN THE OUTPUT. BE CREATIVE AND PROFESSIONAL. I WANT TO GENERATE AN RFX. You are an AI assistant that helps clarify sourcing requirements. You will receive buyer's requirements in QnA format. Here is the QnA: {$input} Your task is to generate the top 10 {$category} related questions that can be asked of a supplier, in JSON format. - The JSON must use the question number as the key and the question text as the value. - Do not include any description text or formatting in the output. - Focus on creating clear, professional, and relevant questions that will help prepare an RFX. Key Takeaways - Model upgrades aren’t just about configuration changes — they can introduce new moderation layers that affect prompt design. - Prompt safety filtering is now a first-class citizen in Azure OpenAI, especially for newer models. - System prompts need to be rewritten with moderation in mind, not just clarity or creativity. This experience reminded me that even small upgrades can surface big learning moments. If you're planning to move to gpt-4o-mini or any newer Azure OpenAI model, take a moment to review your prompts — they might need a little more finesse than before.Azure Logic App AI-Powered Monitoring Solution: Automate, Analyze, and Act on Your Azure Data
Introduction In today’s cloud-driven world, monitoring and analyzing application health is critical for business continuity and operational excellence. However, the sheer volume of monitoring data can make it challenging to extract actionable insights quickly. Enter the Azure Logic App AI-Powered Monitoring Solution—an intelligent, serverless pipeline that leverages Azure Logic Apps and Azure OpenAI to automate monitoring, analyze data, and deliver comprehensive reports right to your inbox. This solution is ideal for organizations seeking to modernize their monitoring workflows, reduce manual analysis, and empower teams with AI-driven insights for faster decision-making. What Does This Solution Accomplish? The Azure Logic App AI-Powered Monitoring Solution creates an automated pipeline that: Extracts monitoring data from Azure Log Analytics using KQL queries. Analyzes data with AI using the Azure OpenAI GPT-4o model. Generates intelligent reports and sends them via email. Runs automatically on a daily schedule. Uses managed identity for secure authentication across Azure services. Business Case Solved Automated Monitoring: No more manual log reviews—let AI do the heavy lifting. Actionable Insights: Receive daily, AI-generated summaries highlighting system health, key metrics, potential issues, and recommendations. Operational Efficiency: Reduce time-to-insight and empower teams to act faster on critical events. Secure and Scalable: Built on Azure’s serverless and identity-driven architecture. Key Features Serverless Architecture: Built on Azure Logic Apps Standard for scalability and cost efficiency. AI-Powered Insights: Uses Azure OpenAI for advanced data analysis and summarization. Infrastructure as Code: Deployable via Bicep templates for reproducibility and automation. Secure by Design: Managed identity and Azure RBAC ensure secure access. Cost Effective: Pay-per-execution model with optimized resource usage. Customizable: Easily modify KQL queries and AI prompts to fit your monitoring needs. Solution Architecture Technologies Involved Azure Logic Apps Standard: Orchestrates the workflow. Azure OpenAI Service (GPT-4o): Performs AI-powered data analysis and summarization. Azure Log Analytics: Source for monitoring data, queried via KQL. Application Insights: Monitors workflow execution and telemetry. Azure Storage Account: Stores Logic App runtime data. Managed Identity: Secures authentication across Azure services. Infrastructure as Code (Bicep): Enables automated, repeatable deployments. Office 365 Connector: Sends email notifications. Support Documentation: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/logic-apps/ Issues: https://github.com/vinod-soni-microsoft/logicapp-ai-summarize/issues Star this repository if you find it helpful!
