Microsoft Generative AI

Learn Microsoft Generative AI from the Ground Up

Generative AI is rapidly changing how applications are designed, developed, and deployed. Microsoft Foundry brings together models, agents, tools, development capabilities, evaluation, observability, and enterprise controls in one platform for building modern AI applications.

Microsoft Generative AI: The Beginner's Guide provides a practical introduction to the concepts and tools you need to start building with generative AI on Microsoft Azure.

Designed for beginners, this book explains not only what generative AI can do, but also how it works, how to build with it, how to test it, and how to make applications safer and more reliable.

• Cloud, AI, machine learning, and generative AI fundamentals

• Microsoft Azure and the Microsoft AI ecosystem

• Microsoft Foundry and its development workflow

• Models, tokens, context, and inference settings

• Prompt engineering and reliable AI output

• Python development with Microsoft Foundry

• Grounding, embeddings, search, and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)

• Multimodal AI and tool calling

• AI agents and workflow automation

• Evaluation, safety, observability, and responsible AI

• Practical application projects and deployment patterns

• Troubleshooting, cost considerations, and next steps

The book takes you from foundational concepts to building practical generative AI applications.

You'll begin by understanding the cloud and AI concepts behind modern generative AI, then set up your development environment and explore models, tokens, prompts, and inference.

From there, you'll move into Python development, grounding and RAG, multimodal capabilities, tool calling, and AI agents. The final chapters focus on evaluation, safety, observability, deployment, troubleshooting, and cost management.

This is not designed as a purely theoretical introduction.

Throughout the book, concepts are reinforced through scenarios, workflows, code examples, guided labs, practical projects, review questions, and troubleshooting guidance.

Python is used as the primary implementation language, while the underlying architectural concepts can be applied to other programming languages and development environments.

This guide is ideal for:

• Beginners exploring generative AI

• Developers starting AI application development

• Azure and cloud professionals entering generative AI

• Students and technology learners

• Software engineers adding AI capabilities to applications

• Data and AI professionals building foundational skills

• Professionals exploring Microsoft Foundry

• Anyone wanting a structured introduction to AI applications, RAG, and agents

Modern generative AI development goes far beyond sending a prompt to a language model. Reliable applications need appropriate models, effective prompts, relevant grounding data, retrieval strategies, tools, evaluation, security, observability, and responsible AI practices.

This guide brings those concepts together in one beginner-friendly learning journey.

Learn the concepts. Build the applications. Understand how generative AI works.

Buy Now and decide your next destination

AI Reader Path

AI for Beginners
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AI in Cloud Computing
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Generative AI
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AI Security
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AI in Cybersecurity
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AI Governance