Empowering Government Organizations with Secure and Insightful Cloud Services

Microsoft has launched a new OpenAI technology integration into its services that aim to give governments better insights while placing a higher priority on information security.

FREMONT, CA: Microsoft continues to create and expand cloud services to address the full range of government needs while adhering to regulatory classification and security standards. Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service's generative AI capabilities can aid government organisations in increasing productivity, enhancing efficiency, and gaining new insights from their data. The sensitive nature of government data necessitates a greater level of protection for many entities. They can meet government requirements for sensitive data owing to Azure Goverment’s strict security and compliance standards.

Large language models are currently stored on the commercial cloud and enable generative AI products. Microsoft has created a new architecture specifically for government customers that enables these users to maintain the high-security standards required for government cloud operations while securely accessing the expansive language models in the commercial environment from Azure Government.

Azure Government to Azure Commercial Networking

Including routing and transport capabilities to the internet and the Microsoft Corporate network, Azure Government peers directly with the commercial Microsoft Azure network. Azure Government uses additional security measures and the network's communications capabilities to reduce its exposed surface area.

Access and Reference Architecture

The Azure Government environment provides access to the Azure OpenAI Service. Azure Government does not peer directly with the public internet or the Microsoft corporate network instead, it peers directly with the commercial Azure network. To access and operationalise cutting-edge AI models and algorithms safely and at scale, a connection to Azure OpenAI is made across the Microsoft backbone network.

Protecting the Data, Privacy, and Security

To meet governmental requirements for sensitive data, Microsoft Azure Government offers rigorous security and compliance standards. Government applications and data environments continue to be hosted by Azure Government under this architecture. Only the queries sent to the Azure OpenAI Service transit through an encrypted network and are removed from the commercial environment once they reach the Azure OpenAI model. Government data is not utilised to train the OpenAI model or to learn about any data.

Customers who meet additional Limited access eligibility requirements and can vouch for particular use cases may apply to Microsoft to change the functionalities of the Azure OpenAI content management system. If Microsoft authorises a customer's request to change data logging, Microsoft does not save any prompts or completions related to the approved Azure subscription for which data logging is turned off in Azure commercials. To ensure that no logging data exists in Azure commercial, it is advised, as part of the reference architecture, to finish the approval procedure to adjust content filters and data logging through this online form.