AI Platforms
Our guest today is Eric Boyd, the Corporate Vice President of AI at Microsoft. Eric joins us to share how organizations can leverage AI for faster development.
Eric started by sharing what he and his team do at Microsoft. He discussed how organizations use foundational models to create custom solutions with RAGs and vector search.
Eric shared how Azure AI search helps create embeddings and return relevant chunks for customers. He shared the importance of model finetuning and the best use case for it.
Eric discussed how prompt flow helps companies manage their development process. He mentioned parameters that users can tweak to improve the LLM’s performance. He also discussed how to deploy a model.
Eric shared the benefits of using natural language to build products. He discussed the future of version control and the level of AI background required to get started with Azure AI. He mentioned some foundational models in Azure AI and their capabilities. Follow Eric on LinkedIn to learn more about his work.
Eric Boyd
Eric Boyd leads the Azure AI Platform team within Microsoft’s Cloud +
AI division. This is the global organization that spearheaded the
development and deployment of Azure OpenAI Service in the current
age of generative AI and includes Azure Machine Learning, Cognitive
Services, Cognitive Search, and internal platforms that provide data,
experimentation, and Graphics Processing Units (GPU) cluster management to groups across
Microsoft. AI Platform’s mission is to make Microsoft’s Azure AI the best platform for first- and
third-party customers – a mission that has been actualized through the incorporation of “AI
copilots” across Microsoft’s suite of tools for enterprise customers.
During his tenure at Microsoft, Eric has created success in several roles, leveraging his innate
talent to inspire and engage team members at every level. He joined the company in 2009 to
create the Silicon Valley Search Ads team. He moved to Bellevue in 2011 to lead the Bing Ads
Development team prior to taking on his current role in 2015.
Before coming to Microsoft, Eric was the VP of Engineering at Mochi Media, an ads startup that
was acquired by Shanda Games. Prior to Mochi Media, he was a VP of Platform Engineering at
Yahoo for ten years.
Eric graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science. He is an avid skier, Seattle Seahawks and Boston Red Sox fan, and a semi-
retired professional blackjack player.
