Model Mondays S2E03: SLMs & Reasoning

Reasoning models leverage inference-time scaling to execute complex tasks, but how can we use these in resource-constrained devices? Join us as we talk to Mojan Javaheripi about Microsoft Research's Phi-4 reasoning models that are redefining small language models (SLM) for the agentic era of apps.

Register:
Livestreamed: Jun 30 / https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/reactor/events/25907/
Discord AMA: Jul 03 / https://discord.gg/azureaifoundry?event=1382861149288005693

Catch-up After:
Livestream Recording:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLQKZq8L9Uk
AMA Transcript: https://github.com/orgs/azure-ai-foundry/discussions/76

About Model Mondays:
GitHub: https://aka.ms/model-mondays/
Livestream: https://aka.ms/model-mondays/rsvp
Discord: https://aka.ms/model-mondays/discord

Transcript

1. Mojan Javaheripi, PhD Senior Researcher / Microsoft Research SLMs & Reasoning MODEL MONDAYS S2:E03 Models Hosted By: Lee Stott https://aka.ms/model-Mondays/forum
2. Livestream (Mon) · AMA (Fri) https://aka.ms/model-Mondays/rsvp Model Mondays JUN 2025 – SEP 2025
3. Sharmila Chockalingam Senior PMM, Azure AI Weekly Highlights WHAT’S NEW IN AZURE |AI FOUNDRY THIS WEEK?
4. ❶ · Try Model Leaderboard Safety Leaderboard Model Leaderboard now has a new criteria to benchmarks models on - safety. It ranks the top models based on their robustness against generating harmful content. Join: https://aka.ms/model-mondays/discord View: https://aka.ms/model-mondays/forum
5. ❷ · Try Foundry Local On Device AI with Foundry Local The high-performance local AI runtime stack that brings Azure AI Foundry’s power to client devices Join: https://aka.ms/model-mondays/discord View: https://aka.ms/model-mondays/forum
6. ❸ · Try MCP In Azure AI Foundry Agent Service MCP support in Azure AI Foundry Agent Service Foundry Agent Service becomes first class MCP clients Import foundry capabilities in seconds, keep them updates and route calls through the service enterprise envelope. Join: https://aka.ms/model-mondays/discord View: https://aka.ms/model-mondays/forum
7. ❹ · Try Fine-Tuning Model fine-tuning New fine-tuning support empowers organizations to build highly customized, domain-adapted AI for real world Join: https://aka.ms/model-mondays/discord View: https://aka.ms/model-mondays/forum
8. ❺ · Read Gartner DSML Report Leader In Magic Quadrant for DS & ML Platforms The recognition reflects our continued commitment to enterprise-ready toolchains & platforms to transform how businesses operate Join: https://aka.ms/model-mondays/discord View: https://aka.ms/model-mondays/forum
9. Lee Stott Principal AI Advocate Lead, Microsoft Weekly Spotlight HOSTED BY
10. Mojan Javaheripi, PhD Senior Researcher / Microsoft Research SLMs & Reasoning MODEL MONDAYS S2:E03 Models JUN 30, 2025 · 1:30-2:00 PM ET https://aka.ms/model-mondays/rsvp
11. ❶ · About: Phi Innovation https://azure.microsoft.com/blog/one-year-of-phi-small-language-models-making-big-leaps-in-ai/ Phi-4-Reasoning is a 14B parameter open-weight model that rivals LLMs on complex reasoning tasks Phi-4-Reasoning-Plus is a RFT variant using 2.5X more tokens for higher accuracy
12. ❷ · Read: The Blog Post Educator Developer Blog: https://aka.ms/faculty Phi-4 Reasoning is a SOTA reasoning model from MSFT Research – usable in cloud and edge environments Available in Azure AI Foundry, Hugging Face and GitHub Marketplace
13. ❸ · Explore: The Models https://ai.azure.com/explore/models?selectedCollection=phi Azure AI Foundry Models provides a seamless way to go from catalog to code to explore Phi models Multi-lingual guides with translations in 14+ popular languages kept up-to-date
14. ❹ · Understand: Research https://www.microsoft.com/research/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/phi_4_reasoning.pdf Phi-4 Reasoning is trained on high-quality datasets (1.4M prompts) and answers (o3-mini traces). Small size (14B params) with competitive perf to LLMs on many benchmarks
15. ❹ · Build: Phi Cookbook https://ai.azure.com/labs/projects/phi-4 Phi Cookbook provides hands-on recipes to get started with the Phi Family of Small Language Models Multi-lingual guides with translations in 14+ popular languages kept up-to-date
16. Leo Yao Product Manager / DevDiv @Microsoft AI Developer Experiences MODEL MONDAYS S2:E04 Tools Hosted By: April Gittens https://aka.ms/model-Mondays/rsvp
17. Foundry Thursday AMA SLMs & REASONING (Phi-4) https://aka.ms/model-mondays/forum Mojan Javaheripi, PhD Senior Researcher / Microsoft Research THU JUL 03, 2025 · 2:00 -2:30 PM ET Models AZURE AI FOUNDRY DISCORD
18. Fri 1:30pm ET Join The Discord https://aka.ms/model-mondays/Discord Links To Resources Summary of AMA https://aka.ms/model-mondays/Forum #ModelMondays WATCH LIVE ON MONDAY FIND RECAPS ON FORUM JOIN AMA ON FRIDAY Mon 1:30pm ET Register Here https://aka.ms/model-mondays/RSVP