The Secret Life of Azure: The Librarian with Hands (AI Agents)
The Secret Life of Azure: The Librarian with Hands (AI Agents)
Turning AI into action with agents and function calling
#Azure #AIAgents #GenerativeAI #SmartAutomation
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📺 Video Edition: Prefer to watch? Check out the 7-minute visual explainer on YouTube.
Agents & Orchestration
The library was buzzing, but Timothy was busy running back and forth between the glowing "Voice" desk and the stockroom.
"Margaret," Timothy panted, "the Voice is too smart for its own good! It told a patron exactly what they needed for their research, but then the patron asked the library to actually reserve the books and order the supplies. The Voice just said, 'I'm sorry, I can't do that.' I’m stuck being the middleman again. I’ve given the library a brain, but it doesn't have any hands."
Margaret pulled out a small, intricate set of brass keys and laid them on the table.
"Timothy, you've built a genius, but you've kept it in a glass box. To make the library truly autonomous, we need to give the AI Tools. In Azure, we do this through Function Calling and AI Agents."
She drew a pair of mechanical hands on the chalkboard, connecting them to the "Voice" speech bubble.
The Toolbox: Function Calling
"Function Calling," Margaret explained, "is how the AI communicates with the rest of your systems. You don't just give the AI text; you give it a 'Toolbox' of capabilities—like CheckInventory or PlaceOrder. You describe to the AI what each tool does and what information it needs to work."
Timothy looked at the keys. "So the AI doesn't actually 'write' the code to order the vellum? It just knows which 'key' to turn?"
"Exactly," Margaret said. "When the patron asks to order supplies, the AI realizes it can't fulfill the request with words alone. it looks in its toolbox, picks the PlaceOrder tool, and sends a structured request back to the system to execute the command. The AI provides the 'intent,' and your code provides the 'action.'"
The Agent: Thinking in Loops
Margaret drew a circle around the brain and the hands. "When an AI can use tools to achieve a goal, we call it an Agent. An agent doesn't just give one answer; it thinks in a loop. It perceives the request, plans the steps, uses a tool, looks at the result, and repeats the process until the job is done."
Safety: The Guarded Gate
"But what if the AI goes rogue and orders a thousand crates of vellum we don't need?" Timothy asked, eyes wide.
"We use Human-in-the-Loop gates," Margaret replied. "For sensitive actions—like spending money or deleting records—we set a rule: 'The Agent can prepare the order, but it cannot hit Submit until a human librarian reviews it.' We give the Agent hands, but we keep the remote control."
Putting It into Practice
Timothy watched as a patron approached the desk and asked to organize a study group. The Voice didn't just explain how; it looked at the library calendar, found an open room, and sent invitations to the other students.
"It’s not just talking anymore," Timothy whispered. "It’s working."
Margaret nodded. "That is the shift from AI as a consultant to AI as a colleague. When you give the library hands, you stop being the operator and start being the director."
Key Concepts
- AI Agent: An AI system capable of perceiving its environment, reasoning about goals, and taking actions to achieve them.
- Function Calling: A feature that allows an LLM to describe its intent to call a specific programming function to perform a task.
- Tool Definition: The process of describing a function’s name, description, and parameters so the AI knows when and how to use it.
- Orchestration: The logic that manages the "loop" of an agent—sending the AI's intent to the tool and bringing the result back to the AI.
- Human-in-the-Loop (HITL): A safety pattern where an AI agent requires human approval before executing certain high-stakes actions.
Aaron Rose is a software engineer and technology writer at tech-reader.blog. For explainer videos and podcasts, check out Tech-Reader YouTube channel.
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