In 2023, we saw generative AI usher successful a question of caller innovations, from Microsoft Copilot to the “last song” from The Beatles to helping agrarian India farmers gain easier entree to authorities services. These AI innovations are present starting to amusement up successful our mundane lives and person a affirmative interaction for millions of radical astir the world.

Last week, arsenic portion of Microsoft’s FY24 Q2 Earnings, we announced we present person 53,000 Azure AI customers. Over one-third are caller to Azure this calendar year.

And we person large momentum with Azure OpenAI Service, too, which became generally available conscionable implicit 12 months ago, empowering developers and organizations to physique AI applications with OpenAI’s latest models (including GPT-4 Turbo with Vision, fine-tuning for the foundational models, and DALL-E 3) backed by the endeavor capabilities of our Azure cloud. We proceed to present new innovation with Azure OpenAI Service including Assistants API successful preview, text-to-speech capabilities, enactment for caller models, and updates to fine-tuning API.

Today, thousands of organizations astir the satellite are utilizing Azure OpenAI work to thrust meaningful concern interaction for radical and society. We are seeing accrued usage from AI-first startups similar DeepBrain, Perplexity, and SymphonyAI, arsenic good arsenic the world’s biggest companies. Over fractional of the Fortune 500 usage Azure OpenAI today, including AT&T, Walmart, Ally Financial, and Carmax.

Helping taxpayers with AI Tax Assist

It’s nary concealed that filing taxes tin beryllium stressful, overwhelming, and time-consuming. According to the IRS, the mean payer spends 13 hours preparing their return. As we participate this year’s taxation play (the IRS officially began accepting eFiling from individuals connected January 29), it’s particularly breathtaking to spot however H&R Block is leveraging the generative AI capabilities of Azure to assistance easiness the filing process for taxpayers this year. 

Almost fractional (46%) of the 146 cardinal taxation filers successful the U.S. hole and record their own taxes. This season, those 69 cardinal DIYers volition person the quality to simplify the taxation mentation process with H&R Block AI Tax Assist.¹

Sound familiar? You whitethorn person caught a glimpse of AI Tax Assist commercials past period during the NFL playoffs, oregon erstwhile the solution archetypal launched successful December 2023.

H&R Block AI Tax Assist is simply a generative artificial quality (GenAI) acquisition that harnesses the powerfulness of Azure OpenAI Service to assistance streamline the taxation mentation process for individuals, the self-employed and tiny concern owners to record and negociate their taxes confidently.

“With H&R Block AI Tax Assist, we are enhancing the DIY taxation filing experience. By applying generative AI tools with our unsocial quality to supply quality expertise astatine scale, we’re taking a measurement guardant successful innovation to assistance marque the taxation filing process easier. We’re thrilled to enactment with Microsoft and leverage the powerfulness of Azure OpenAI Service to alteration however Americans bash their taxes.”

– Heather Watts, Senior Vice President of Consumer Tax Products, H&R Block 

Leveraging information from H&R Block’s The Tax Institute and the acquisition of much than 60,000 taxation professionals, H&R Block AI Tax Assist helps DIY customers efficiently enactment done the taxation mentation process by assisting with:

• Tax Information: AI Tax Assist tin supply accusation connected taxation forms, deductions, and credits, maximizing imaginable refunds and minimizing taxation liability.
• Tax Preparation: AI Tax Assist tin usher individuals done questions arsenic they hole and record their taxes, reply taxation mentation questions and connection navigation instructions erstwhile needed. 
• Tax Knowledge: AI Tax Assist tin reply free-form tax-related questions, providing dynamic responses that clarify taxation presumption and springiness guidance connected circumstantial taxation rules oregon wide accusation astir the U.S. and authorities taxation system. 
• Tax Changes: AI Tax Assist tin reply questions astir the taxation code, precocious changed laws and taxation policies. 

“H&R Block has built a long-standing concern with Microsoft starting with migration to Azure arsenic a portion of our broader integer transformation. As we considered level partners for gathering the AI Tax Assist and AI Platforms much broadly, we indexed heavy connected speed-to-market portion ensuring we did it safely, responsibly, and honoring the spot our clients spot successful our marque each day. The capabilities of Azure OpenAI Service to alteration liable deployment of AI were captious successful helping physique assurance successful this caller solution and allowed america to deploy this caller exertion astatine standard to our clients aboriginal successful our journey.”

– Alan Lowden, Chief Information Officer, H&R Block

Driving concern interaction with Azure AI

Like H&R Block, organizations including AT&T, Inflection AI, PwC, Siemens and Volvo are utilizing Azure AI to reimagine lawsuit experiences, region friction successful business-critical processes to assistance end-users and employees absorption their clip and vigor connected invaluable work.

Whether gathering a copilot, a chatbot, oregon a originative assistant, businesses are taking vantage of Azure AI’s exemplary choice, flexibility and multimodal capabilities done Azure AI Studio to innovate faster and much responsibly crossed a scope of divers services including education, financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, and risk management.

Our committedness to liable AI

With Responsible AI tools successful Azure, Microsoft is empowering organizations to physique the adjacent procreation of AI apps safely and responsibly. Azure AI Content Safety is simply a state-of-the creation AI strategy that helps organizations support AI-generated contented harmless and make amended online experiences for everyone. Customers—from startup to enterprise—are applying the capabilities of Azure AI Content Safety to societal media, acquisition and worker engagement scenarios to assistance conception AI systems that operationalize fairness, privacy, security, and different liable AI principles.

Get started with Azure OpenAI Service 

• Apply for entree to Azure OpenAI Service by completing this form. 
• Build with Azure OpenAI Service models utilizing Azure AI Studio.
• Learn about Azure OpenAI’s, latest enhancements and get started with GPT-4.
• Join Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub if you’re a startup founder.
• Learn much about Azure AI Content Safety.

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1- Internal Revenue Service Data Book

The station How H&R Block is utilizing Azure OpenAI Service to bring easiness to American taxpayers this season appeared archetypal connected Microsoft Azure Blog.