In this Tech Accelerator session, The Essentials to Build and Modernize AI Applications on Azure, Ben Brauer guides a conversation with Rory Woods (cloud solution architect, Microsoft United States) and Joakim Åström (cloud solution architect, Microsoft Sweden) on how to design GenAI solutions that don’t go feral the moment someone asks a “creative” question. They ground the discussion in the Azure Well-Architected Framework and the AI workload guidance, with references to the Azure Architecture Center, the OpenAI chatbot reference architecture, and the Azure OpenAI Landing Zone. From there, they translate the classic WAF pillars into AI reality: reliability when inference is a bit of a black box, security that treats both inputs and model outputs as potentially unsafe (including content safety, prompt injection, and jailbreak attempts), and operational excellence through observability and disciplined testing. They also dig into the modern build pattern—fine-tuning when it fits, but often RAG instead—covering vector databases, embeddings, index design trade-offs, and the practical machinery of MLOps/GenAIOps: red-teaming, automated evaluation, and CI/CD with GitHub Actions or Azure DevOps pipelines, plus how to watch for model decay, data drift, and concept drift as your system meets the real world.
We produced this as a pre-recorded, streamed event built to feel confidently live—without the backstage scramble, awkward silences, or pixels quietly panicking in the lower third. We handled show development, designed the graphics package, prepped the guests, produced the footage, shaped the story in the edit, and streamed it to multiple social channels using our remote studio and streaming platform. The result: a polished on-air experience that keeps speakers relaxed, makes complex technical content land clearly, and leaves you with an on-demand asset that keeps working long after the stream wraps.
The inevitable sequels
Hollywood keeps stretching good ideas into progressively worse sequels. We don’t. These are the related videos—spiritual siblings of the one you just watched—as good or better than this video. Expect callbacks, new plot twists, and maybe even a scene-stealing cameo from a lower third.
