Building and deploying production grade AI agents with Microsoft Foundry with Edgar McOchieng [MVP]

Are you struggling to balance the high costs of generative AI with the need for enterprise-grade performance? In this deep dive, Microsoft MVP Edgar Mushing shares his expert insights on building and deploying production-ready AI agents using Microsoft AI Foundry.

In this episode, we explore the practical realities of implementing AI in the corporate world, from managing skyrocketing API costs to ensuring data security. Edgar breaks down the architecture of Mella AI, a sophisticated internal tool that connects to SharePoint, Outlook, and external data sources to provide seamless enterprise knowledge retrieval. You will learn the critical differences between Copilot Studio and AI Foundry, and why moving toward a hybrid model of cloud and local Small Language Models (SLMs) is the future of sustainable AI strategy.

Key topics covered include:

🚀 The transition from expensive cloud models to cost-effective local LLMs.
🛠️ Navigating the Microsoft AI Foundry model catalog and evaluation pipelines.
📊 Implementing Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) for better data grounding.
🔐 The importance of governance, monitoring, and safety in AI deployment.
💻 Using VS Code extensions and GitHub Copilot for an efficient AI development lifecycle.

Whether you are a developer, a data scientist, or a business leader looking to scale your AI capabilities, this conversation provides a roadmap for navigating the complex Azure AI ecosystem.

Chapters

0:00 Intro and Guest Introduction
2:45 Building Ujuzi Hub and Community Mentorship
6:15 Real World AI Experience in the African Market
9:30 Mella AI: Creating an Internal Enterprise Agent
13:15 Managing AI Costs and the Shift to Hybrid Models
18:45 Governance and Budgeting for AI Usage
23:00 Microsoft AI Foundry Fundamentals
28:30 AI Foundry vs Copilot Studio for Pro Code Developers
34:00 Core Components: Model Catalog and Prompt Flow
39:15 Evaluation Pipelines and Testing for Hallucinations
44:00 Collaboration and Project Management in Azure
49:30 AI Application Lifecycle and Developer Tools
54:15 RAG Architecture and Vector Indexing Explained
58:30 The Future of SLMs and Final Priorities for Enterprises

If you found this deep dive helpful, please like the podcast and subscribe for more technical insights into the world of Microsoft 365 and AI.

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