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Azure Cognitive Services

Azure Cognitive Services are cloud-based AI services that enable developers to build intelligent applications without having direct AI or data science skills.

Service Categories

Language Services

Text Analytics

Extract insights from unstructured text.

Capabilities: - Sentiment analysis - Key phrase extraction - Language detection - Named entity recognition - Personally identifiable information (PII) detection

Use Cases: - Social media monitoring - Customer feedback analysis - Content categorization

Language Understanding (LUIS)

Build natural language understanding into apps.

Features: - Intent recognition - Entity extraction - Conversation management - Multi-language support

Example: 

{
  "query": "Book a flight to Seattle tomorrow",
  "prediction": {
    "topIntent": "BookFlight",
    "entities": {
      "destination": ["Seattle"],
      "datetime": ["tomorrow"]
    }
  }
}

Translator

Real-time text and document translation.

Features: - 100+ languages supported - Custom translation models - Document translation - Conversation translation

Vision Services

Computer Vision

Analyze images and extract information.

Capabilities: - Object detection - Image categorization - OCR (Optical Character Recognition) - Face detection - Image description generation

Custom Vision

Build custom image classification models.

Process: 1. Upload and tag training images 2. Train the model 3. Test and improve 4. Deploy via API

Form Recognizer

Extract text, key-value pairs, and tables from documents.

Pre-built Models: - Invoices - Receipts - Business cards - Identity documents

Speech Services

Speech-to-Text

Convert spoken audio to text.

Features: - Real-time transcription - Batch transcription - Custom speech models - Multiple language support

Text-to-Speech

Convert text to natural-sounding speech.

Features: - Neural voices - Custom voice creation - SSML support - Multiple languages and voices

Speech Translation

Real-time speech-to-speech translation.

Integration Examples

Python SDK Example

from azure.cognitiveservices.vision.computervision import ComputerVisionClient
from azure.cognitiveservices.vision.computervision.models import OperationStatusCodes
from msrest.authentication import CognitiveServicesCredentials

# Create client
credentials = CognitiveServicesCredentials(subscription_key)
client = ComputerVisionClient(endpoint, credentials)

# Analyze image
image_url = "https://example.com/image.jpg"
analysis = client.analyze_image(image_url, visual_features=['Categories', 'Description', 'Objects'])

print(analysis.description.captions[0].text)

REST API Example

curl -X POST \
  https://westus.api.cognitive.microsoft.com/vision/v3.2/analyze \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -H 'Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key: YOUR_KEY' \
  -d '{
    "url": "https://example.com/image.jpg"
  }'

Pricing Models

Free Tier

  • Limited transactions per month
  • Perfect for development and testing

Standard Tier

  • Pay-per-transaction
  • Volume discounts available
  • SLA guarantees

Custom Models

  • Additional costs for training
  • Hosting fees for deployment

Security Features

  • Authentication: Subscription keys and Azure AD
  • Network Security: Virtual network support
  • Data Encryption: At rest and in transit
  • Compliance: SOC, ISO, HIPAA certifications

Monitoring and Analytics

  • Azure Monitor: Track usage and performance
  • Application Insights: Detailed telemetry
  • Cognitive Services Metrics: Service-specific metrics
  • Alerts: Proactive monitoring