November 24, 2022 4 min read

Thanksgiving Reflections: A Year of Azure Data and AI Progress

As we gather for Thanksgiving, it’s a perfect time to reflect on the remarkable progress in Azure data and AI over the past year. Let’s appreciate how far we’ve come and look forward to what’s ahead.

Grateful for Azure OpenAI Service

The biggest story of 2022 has been the democratization of large language models. Azure OpenAI Service brought GPT-3 and Codex to enterprise customers with:

# What felt impossible a year ago is now a few lines of code
import openai

response = openai.Completion.create(
    engine="text-davinci-002",
    prompt="What are you thankful for in cloud technology?",
    max_tokens=200
)

# AI can now help us write code, analyze data, and create content

Enterprise features like private endpoints, managed identity, and content filtering make these models production-ready.

Synapse Analytics Maturity

Azure Synapse has evolved from a promising preview to a robust unified analytics platform:

-- Unified experience across SQL, Spark, and pipelines
-- Query data lake, warehouse, and operational stores
SELECT
    'Data Lake' as source,
    COUNT(*) as records
FROM OPENROWSET(BULK 'https://lake.dfs.core.windows.net/**/*.parquet', FORMAT='PARQUET') as data
UNION ALL
SELECT
    'Cosmos DB' as source,
    COUNT(*)
FROM OPENROWSET(PROVIDER='CosmosDB', ...) as cosmos
UNION ALL
SELECT
    'Data Warehouse' as source,
    COUNT(*)
FROM dw.fact_sales;

The serverless SQL pool makes ad-hoc analytics accessible without provisioning infrastructure.

.NET 7 and the Developer Experience

The .NET 7 release exemplifies developer-focused innovation:

// Minimal APIs make building services delightful
var app = WebApplication.Create();

app.MapGet("/thanks", () => "Happy Thanksgiving!")
   .CacheOutput(TimeSpan.FromHours(1));

app.Run();

Combined with C# 11 features like raw string literals, development has never been more enjoyable.

Power Platform Growth

Low-code development has matured significantly:

# Power Automate flows connect everything
trigger:
  type: scheduled
  recurrence: daily

actions:
  - get_data:
      source: SharePoint
      list: ThanksgivingPotluck

  - send_reminder:
      to: all_attendees
      template: potluck_reminder

  - update_tracker:
      destination: Teams
      channel: ThanksgivingPlanning

Citizen developers now build solutions that previously required professional development teams.

Data Governance Advances

Microsoft Purview has made data governance achievable:

# Data lineage, classification, and discovery
# are now built into the platform

from azure.purview.catalog import PurviewCatalogClient

# Scan data assets automatically
# Track lineage end-to-end
# Apply sensitivity labels
# Manage data access policies

# All from a unified governance platform

Machine Learning Accessibility

Azure ML continues to lower barriers:

from azure.ai.ml import MLClient, command

# AutoML makes ML accessible
# MLflow provides model management
# Responsible AI dashboard ensures ethical AI

# Training a model is now as simple as:
job = command(
    code="./src",
    command="python train.py",
    environment="AzureML-sklearn-1.0",
    compute="cpu-cluster"
)

Looking Forward to 2023

What excites me about next year:

Conversational AI

OpenAI is working on improved conversational AI capabilities. Expect transformative AI experiences coming to Azure in 2023.

Unified Analytics

Expect Microsoft to continue consolidating and simplifying the data platform experience, bringing together data engineering, data science, and business intelligence.

Copilot Everywhere

GitHub Copilot was just the beginning. Expect AI assistance across all Microsoft tools.

Continued Cloud Native Evolution

Azure Container Apps, Kubernetes improvements, and serverless innovations.

Personal Thanks

I’m thankful for:

The community: MVPs, user groups, and online communities that share knowledge freely
Microsoft’s commitment: Continuous investment in developer experience and documentation
My colleagues: Who push me to learn and grow every day
You, the readers: Who take time to learn and apply these technologies

A Simple Gratitude Exercise

# Take a moment to reflect
gratitude_list = [
    "Cloud computing that scales effortlessly",
    "AI that augments human capabilities",
    "Open source collaboration",
    "Remote work enabled by technology",
    "Continuous learning opportunities"
]

for item in gratitude_list:
    print(f"Thankful for: {item}")

# What would you add to your list?

Building Something Meaningful

In the spirit of giving, consider how we can use these powerful tools:

# Ideas for giving back with technology
projects = [
    {
        "project": "Nonprofit data analytics",
        "tech": "Power BI + Azure",
        "impact": "Help nonprofits make data-driven decisions"
    },
    {
        "project": "Accessibility tools",
        "tech": "Azure Cognitive Services",
        "impact": "Make technology inclusive for everyone"
    },
    {
        "project": "Environmental monitoring",
        "tech": "IoT + Azure",
        "impact": "Track and protect our planet"
    },
    {
        "project": "Education platforms",
        "tech": "Azure + AI",
        "impact": "Democratize quality education"
    }
]

for project in projects:
    print(f"Consider: {project['project']}")
    print(f"  Using: {project['tech']}")
    print(f"  To: {project['impact']}\n")

Conclusion

2022 has been a remarkable year for Azure data and AI. The convergence of accessible AI, unified analytics, and developer-friendly tools creates unprecedented opportunities. As we enjoy time with family and friends this Thanksgiving, let’s appreciate the technology that connects us and commit to using it responsibly in the year ahead.

Happy Thanksgiving!