Azure Machine Learning Updates at Build 2023

I wrote “Azure Machine Learning Updates at Build 2023” to share practical, production-minded guidance on this topic.

Key Announcements

Build 2023 brought several Azure ML enhancements:

1. Managed Feature Store GA
2. Model Catalog Expansion
3. Responsible AI Dashboard Updates
4. MLOps Improvements
5. Prompt Flow Integration

Managed Feature Store

The Azure ML Managed Feature Store is now generally available:

from azure.ai.ml import MLClient
from azure.ai.ml.entities import FeatureStore, FeatureStoreEntity, FeatureSet
from azure.identity import DefaultAzureCredential

ml_client = MLClient(
    DefaultAzureCredential(),
    subscription_id="your-sub",
    resource_group_name="your-rg"
)

# Create feature store
feature_store = FeatureStore(
    name="customer-features",
    location="eastus",
    compute_runtime=ComputeRuntime(spark_runtime_version="3.3")
)
ml_client.feature_stores.begin_create_or_update(feature_store).result()

# Define feature entity
customer_entity = FeatureStoreEntity(
    name="customer",
    version="1",
    index_columns=[{"name": "customer_id", "type": "string"}],
    stage="Development"
)
ml_client.feature_store_entities.begin_create_or_update(
    name="customer-features",
    entity=customer_entity
).result()

Creating Feature Sets

from azure.ai.ml.entities import FeatureSet, FeatureSetSpecification

# Define feature set from transformation code
customer_feature_set = FeatureSet(
    name="customer_transactions",
    version="1",
    entities=[customer_entity],
    specification=FeatureSetSpecification(path="./feature_transformation.py"),
    stage="Development"
)

# Register feature set
ml_client.feature_sets.begin_create_or_update(
    feature_store_name="customer-features",
    featureset=customer_feature_set
).result()

# feature_transformation.py
from pyspark.sql import DataFrame
from pyspark.sql.functions import col, sum as spark_sum, count, avg

def transform(df: DataFrame) -> DataFrame:
    """Transform raw transactions into features"""

    features = df.groupBy("customer_id").agg(
        count("transaction_id").alias("transaction_count"),
        spark_sum("amount").alias("total_spend"),
        avg("amount").alias("avg_transaction_value"),
        spark_sum(
            when(col("category") == "electronics", col("amount")).otherwise(0)
        ).alias("electronics_spend")
    )

    return features

Using Features in Training

from azure.ai.ml.entities import FeatureRetrievalSpecification

# Define feature retrieval for training
feature_retrieval = FeatureRetrievalSpecification(
    feature_store_name="customer-features",
    feature_sets=[
        FeatureSetReference(
            name="customer_transactions",
            version="1",
            features=["transaction_count", "total_spend", "avg_transaction_value"]
        ),
        FeatureSetReference(
            name="customer_demographics",
            version="1",
            features=["age_group", "region"]
        )
    ]
)

# Use in training job
training_job = command(
    code="./src",
    command="python train.py --data ${{inputs.training_data}}",
    inputs={
        "training_data": Input(
            type="uri_file",
            path="azureml://datastores/default/paths/training/data.csv"
        )
    },
    feature_retrieval_spec=feature_retrieval,
    environment="AzureML-sklearn-1.0@latest",
    compute="cpu-cluster"
)

Model Catalog

Access foundation models from various providers:

from azure.ai.ml import MLClient
from azure.ai.ml.entities import Model

ml_client = MLClient.from_config()

# Browse available models
models = ml_client.models.list(registry_name="azure-openai")
for model in models:
    print(f"{model.name}: {model.description}")

# Get specific model
llama_model = ml_client.models.get(
    name="llama-2-7b",
    version="1",
    registry_name="huggingface"
)
print(f"Model: {llama_model.name}")
print(f"Tags: {llama_model.tags}")

Deploy Model from Catalog

from azure.ai.ml.entities import (
    ManagedOnlineEndpoint,
    ManagedOnlineDeployment
)

# Create endpoint
endpoint = ManagedOnlineEndpoint(
    name="llama-endpoint",
    auth_mode="key"
)
ml_client.online_endpoints.begin_create_or_update(endpoint).result()

# Deploy model from registry
deployment = ManagedOnlineDeployment(
    name="llama-deployment",
    endpoint_name="llama-endpoint",
    model="azureml://registries/huggingface/models/llama-2-7b/versions/1",
    instance_type="Standard_NC24s_v3",  # GPU instance
    instance_count=1,
    environment_variables={
        "MODEL_NAME": "llama-2-7b",
        "MAX_TOKENS": "2048"
    }
)
ml_client.online_deployments.begin_create_or_update(deployment).result()

Responsible AI Dashboard

Enhanced RAI capabilities for model transparency:

from azure.ai.ml import Input
from azure.ai.ml.entities import RAIJob

# Create RAI analysis job
rai_job = RAIJob(
    name="model-rai-analysis",
    model=Input(type="mlflow_model", path="azureml:churn-model:1"),
    train_dataset=Input(type="mltable", path="azureml:train-data:1"),
    test_dataset=Input(type="mltable", path="azureml:test-data:1"),
    target_column_name="churn",
    task_type="classification",
    components=[
        "error_analysis",
        "explanation",
        "causal_analysis",
        "counterfactual_analysis"
    ]
)

# Submit job
ml_client.jobs.create_or_update(rai_job)

RAI Insights

from raiwidgets import ResponsibleAIDashboard
from responsibleai import RAIInsights

# Load model and data
model = mlflow.sklearn.load_model("models:/churn-model/1")
train_data = pd.read_csv("train.csv")
test_data = pd.read_csv("test.csv")

# Create RAI insights
rai_insights = RAIInsights(
    model=model,
    train=train_data,
    test=test_data,
    target_column="churn",
    task_type="classification"
)

# Add components
rai_insights.error_analysis.add()
rai_insights.explainer.add()
rai_insights.causal.add(treatment_features=["marketing_spend", "customer_support_calls"])
rai_insights.counterfactual.add(total_CFs=10, desired_class="opposite")

# Compute
rai_insights.compute()

# View dashboard
ResponsibleAIDashboard(rai_insights)

MLOps Improvements

Model Registry Enhancements

from azure.ai.ml.entities import Model
from azure.ai.ml.constants import AssetTypes

# Register model with lineage
model = Model(
    name="churn-prediction",
    version="2",
    path="outputs/model",
    type=AssetTypes.MLFLOW_MODEL,
    description="Customer churn prediction model",
    tags={
        "algorithm": "xgboost",
        "dataset_version": "v3",
        "accuracy": "0.92"
    },
    properties={
        "training_job": "azureml:training-job-abc123",
        "data_used": "azureml:customer-data:v3"
    }
)

registered_model = ml_client.models.create_or_update(model)
print(f"Registered: {registered_model.name}:{registered_model.version}")

Pipeline Improvements

from azure.ai.ml import dsl, Input, Output
from azure.ai.ml.entities import Pipeline

@dsl.pipeline(
    name="training_pipeline",
    description="End-to-end training pipeline with MLOps best practices"
)
def training_pipeline(
    raw_data: Input,
    model_name: str = "churn-model"
):
    # Data preparation
    prep_step = data_prep_component(
        raw_data=raw_data
    )

    # Feature engineering
    feature_step = feature_engineering_component(
        input_data=prep_step.outputs.processed_data
    )

    # Training with hyperparameter tuning
    train_step = train_component(
        training_data=feature_step.outputs.features
    )

    # Evaluation
    eval_step = evaluate_component(
        model=train_step.outputs.model,
        test_data=feature_step.outputs.test_features
    )

    # Conditional registration
    register_step = register_component(
        model=train_step.outputs.model,
        metrics=eval_step.outputs.metrics,
        model_name=model_name,
        register_condition="accuracy > 0.90"
    )

    return {
        "model": train_step.outputs.model,
        "metrics": eval_step.outputs.metrics
    }

# Build and submit pipeline
pipeline = training_pipeline(
    raw_data=Input(type="uri_file", path="azureml:customer-data:latest")
)
pipeline_job = ml_client.jobs.create_or_update(pipeline)

Deployment Pipelines

from azure.ai.ml.entities import BatchEndpoint, BatchDeployment

# Create batch endpoint
batch_endpoint = BatchEndpoint(
    name="churn-batch-endpoint",
    description="Batch scoring endpoint for churn prediction"
)
ml_client.batch_endpoints.begin_create_or_update(batch_endpoint).result()

# Create batch deployment
batch_deployment = BatchDeployment(
    name="churn-batch-v1",
    endpoint_name="churn-batch-endpoint",
    model="azureml:churn-prediction:2",
    compute="cpu-cluster",
    instance_count=2,
    max_concurrency_per_instance=2,
    mini_batch_size=10,
    output_action="append_row",
    output_file_name="predictions.csv"
)
ml_client.batch_deployments.begin_create_or_update(batch_deployment).result()

Azure ML continues to evolve as a comprehensive platform for both traditional ML and GenAI workloads. Tomorrow, I will cover Responsible AI improvements in more detail.

Resources

• Azure ML Documentation
• Feature Store
• Model Catalog\n\n## Takeaways\n\nAdd a concise, personal takeaway and recommended next steps here.\n