Setting Up Azure AI Beginner

This lesson guides you through creating an Azure subscription, setting up resource groups, and provisioning AI services. By the end, you will have a fully configured Azure environment ready for AI development.

Prerequisites

  • A Microsoft account (Outlook, Hotmail, or organizational account)
  • A credit card for billing (Azure offers $200 free credits for new accounts)
  • Python 3.8+ installed locally

Step 1: Create an Azure Account

  1. Visit the Azure Portal

    Go to portal.azure.com and sign in with your Microsoft account.

  2. Start the free trial

    New users receive $200 in free credits for 30 days, plus 12 months of free services. Click "Start free" to begin.

Step 2: Install Azure CLI

Terminal 
# Install Azure CLI
# Windows (PowerShell)
winget install Microsoft.AzureCLI

# macOS
brew install azure-cli

# Linux (Ubuntu/Debian)
curl -sL https://aka.ms/InstallAzureCLIDeb | sudo bash

# Login to Azure
az login

Step 3: Create a Resource Group

Resource groups are logical containers for Azure resources. Create one for your AI projects:

Terminal 
# Create a resource group
az group create --name ai-school-rg --location eastus

# Verify creation
az group show --name ai-school-rg

Step 4: Provision AI Services

Terminal 
# Create an Azure AI Services multi-service resource
az cognitiveservices account create \
  --name ai-school-services \
  --resource-group ai-school-rg \
  --kind CognitiveServices \
  --sku S0 \
  --location eastus \
  --yes

# Get the API key
az cognitiveservices account keys list \
  --name ai-school-services \
  --resource-group ai-school-rg

# Get the endpoint
az cognitiveservices account show \
  --name ai-school-services \
  --resource-group ai-school-rg \
  --query "properties.endpoint"

Step 5: Install Python SDKs

Terminal 
# Install Azure AI SDKs
pip install azure-ai-ml azure-identity
pip install openai  # For Azure OpenAI
pip install azure-cognitiveservices-vision-computervision
pip install azure-ai-textanalytics
pip install azure-cognitiveservices-speech

Step 6: Verify Setup

Python 
from azure.identity import DefaultAzureCredential
from azure.ai.ml import MLClient

# Authenticate using default credentials
credential = DefaultAzureCredential()

# Verify connection to Azure
print("Azure authentication successful!")
print("Your Azure AI environment is ready.")
Tip: Use Azure Key Vault to store API keys and secrets securely. Never hardcode credentials in your application code. The DefaultAzureCredential class automatically handles authentication in both local development and production environments.

Setup Complete!

Your Azure AI environment is configured. In the next lesson, you will learn about Azure OpenAI Service and how to deploy GPT, DALL-E, and Whisper models.

Next: Azure OpenAI →
← Introduction Azure OpenAI →