What Gets Me Excited About the Microsoft AI Tour
Microsoft has been a major player in the AI space, thanks in large part to its strategic partnership with OpenAI, established in 2019, long before the release of ChatGPT. Over the two years since OpenAI launched ChatGPT, Microsoft has made impressive strides in integrating large language models (LLMs) into its suite of products.
As an active user of Microsoft’s Copilot and a participant in its AI Cloud Partner Launch program, I’ve been exploring the built-in AI capabilities across their platforms.
While there’s still work to be done — like improving the Copilot interface and making its AI infrastructure more reliable — it’s also an exciting opportunity. Microsoft gives its partners plenty of reasons to build better, more innovative solutions on its platform. After all, Microsoft excels at fostering a robust and collaborative community.
Back to the event, the Microsoft AI Tour is a global series of one-day, free events running from September 2024 through February 2025. With stops in multiple cities worldwide, it’s a fantastic opportunity to dive into the latest in AI technology. Check here to see if there’s an event near you: Microsoft AI Tour.
Despite being a one-day event, it packs the energy and substance of a multi-day conference, featuring keynotes, industry-specific breakout sessions (covering Financial Services, Healthcare, Government, Retail, Media, and more), interactive discussions, and hands-on workshops.
With my focus on healthcare and data, I’m especially looking forward to the sessions below:
Breakout: Harness the power of data and AI in healthcare
Jonathan Austrian, NYU Langone Health and Dr. Peter Fleischut, New York Presbyterian Hospital | 8:45 AM — 9:30 AM
Keynote: Leading in the age of AI transformation
Scott Guthrie, Executive Vice President of Cloud + AI Group, Microsoft | 10:00 AM — 11:00 AM
Discussion: Scaling enterprise AI with model customization
Olivia Shone, Sr Director Product Marketing, Azure AI, Microsoft | 11:00 AM — 11:15 AM
Breakout: Prompty, AI Foundry and practical E2E development
Seth Juarez, Microsoft | 11:30 AM — 12:15 PM
Breakout: Transform your business: Unleash ROI with an AI Factory model approach
Andrew Faris, PwC, Diego Jarne, PwC United States, Dan Priest, PwC United States, Joe Williams,PwC | 11:30 AM — 12:15 PM
Breakout: Activate your data and analytics for AI innovation
Kim Manis, Microsoft | 1:15 PM — 2:00 PM
Breakout: Code-first GenAIOps from prototype to production
April Speight, Principal Cloud Advocate, Microsoft | 1:15 PM — 2:00 PM
Workshop: Build a copilot code-first with Azure AI Foundry
Nitya Narasimhan, Microsoft | 1:15 PM — 2:30 PM
Workshop: Build and extend agents with Copilot Studio
April Dunnam, Power Platform Advocate, Microsoft | 3:00 PM – 4:15 PM
If you’re planning to attend, I’d love to connect — either in person at the venue or virtually!
I’ll also be sharing my notes and key takeaways from the event in future blog posts, so stay tuned! 😊
