Editor’s note (September 3, 2024): this post has been updated to note that Azure OpenAI has been approved as a service within the DOD IL4 and IL5 Provisional Authorization for Azure Government by Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA). 

As part of our ongoing effort to deliver the latest AI innovations to our government customers, our team is proud to announce several significant updates: 

• Azure OpenAI Service is now approved as a service within the FedRAMP High Authorization for Azure Government. 
• Azure OpenAI has been approved as a service within the DoD Impact Level 4 (IL4) and Impact Level 5 (IL5) Provisional Authorization for Azure Government.
• GPT-4o is now available as part of Azure OpenAI Service for Azure Government and included as part of this latest FedRAMP High and DoD IL4/IL5 Authorization. 

Agencies requiring FedRAMP High Authorization are now able to access these leading AI capabilities within their Azure Government tenant, enabling secure and responsible access to the latest AI technologies while maintaining strict security and compliance requirements. 

GPT-4o, engineered for speed and efficiency, is a ground-breaking, multimodal OpenAI model that integrates text, vision, and audio capabilities to transform how users interact with large language models through more natural and engaging experiences.  

GPT-4o can be used for various AI scenarios, such as natural language understanding, natural language generation, text summarization, text classification, sentiment analysis, question answering, conversational agents, and more. Azure OpenAI Service provides a simple and intuitive interface for customers to interact with GPT-4o, as well as tools and APIs for integrating GPT-4o with their own data and applications.  

Here are some possible use cases for GPT-4o that address needs our customers have identified: 

• Accelerated Discovery: GPT-4o is capable of recognizing patterns and anomalies in code to detect possible vulnerabilities, while also suggesting code modifications that can reduce or mitigate those vulnerabilities. 

• Augmented Cognition: Coupling GPT-4o with large-scale data sets across disparate modalities enables customers to rapidly spot patterns, emerging trends, and reasoned connections to support decision making and actions that improve mission outcomes. 

• Enhanced Productivity: By combining GPT-4o with grounding data from past examples of RFPs and other relevant docs, GPT-4o can create a ready-to-edit first draft RFP to help reduce time spent writing and creating higher quality requirements, while simplifying the process for non-contracting professionals. 

The addition of Azure OpenAI Service to the Azure Government FedRAMP High Authorization is a significant milestone. FedRAMP is a government-wide program that provides a standardized approach to security assessment, authorization, and continuous monitoring for cloud products and services. FedRAMP enables government agencies to adopt cloud services with confidence, knowing that they meet high security standards and comply with federal regulations. FedRAMP authorization is a rigorous and comprehensive process that involves extensive documentation, testing, and auditing by independent third-party assessors. FedRAMP authorization demonstrates Microsoft’s commitment to delivering cloud services that meet the most stringent security and compliance requirements of the US Government. 

Get started with Azure OpenAI Service today in Azure Government 

By making Azure OpenAI Service available in the Azure Government cloud, Microsoft remains committed to enabling government transformation with AI. Along with delivering innovations that help drive missions forward, we make AI easy to procure, easy to access, and easy to implement. Microsoft is committed to delivering more advanced AI capabilities across classification levels in the coming months.