AI Provider
Scoring never uses AI. The text BI Pixie authors for you does: proposed descriptions, AI Instructions, folder names, the phrasing of benchmark questions, and the generic AI agent a benchmark can test. That text is written by an AI provider you choose, called server-side with BI Pixie's prompts. In the Workload the default is the BI Pixie data agent already in your workspace, which runs on your Fabric capacity and needs no API key.
Connect a Provider
On the AI Readiness page, the AI provider status row reads Not connected until one is set up. Open the Set up an AI provider dialog from the prompt beside it. The same dialog opens from Use as AI provider on the AI Assistants page once a data agent exists, so that you can install the agent and connect it in one place, and you can manage the provider at any time from the Account page, on the AI tab. Once connected, the status row names the provider, and the AI Assistants icon in the item sidebar carries a status light that is spoken as "AI provider connected".
BI Pixie data agent (recommended)
Connecting takes one selection. If the agent is not yet installed, an in-context Install data agent action installs it into your workspace. Connecting triggers a single Execute data agents consent prompt, which you can grant yourself, with no tenant administrator required. If you decline, the provider is still saved, and a Grant access banner offers the permission again the first time it is needed. This option is not exclusive to the Workload: portal accounts with a designated Fabric workspace can use the same agent, as described on the portal's AI Provider page.
Bring your own AI provider
To use your own account instead, select Bring your own AI provider and connect Azure AI Foundry, OpenAI, or Anthropic. Azure AI Foundry is the recommended option: supply the endpoint and deployment name, and authenticate with Microsoft Entra ID (recommended) or an API key. OpenAI and Anthropic each take an API key. Keys are stored encrypted, and all calls are made server-side against your own account.
What Works Without a Provider
Everything that does not use AI works with no provider connected, and keeps working when a provider call fails: scoring, the full dimension breakdown, findings, usage grounding, assessment history, AI data schema curation, field defaults, and the first pass of folder proposals. The AI-authored items wait instead. Those cards show a note that an AI provider is required, with a connect action beside it.
A benchmark can still be built and run without a provider, using fixed question templates instead of natural phrasing; business-domain detection and question variations are unavailable, and each says so where it appears. The one benchmark option that requires a provider is the generic AI agent, because the provider plays the emulated agent and is therefore what answers the questions. The BI Pixie data agent cannot play that role, so testing a generic AI agent from the Workload needs a bring-your-own provider. See AI to Test.
What the Provider Sees
When BI Pixie writes text for you, it sends your provider the relevant part of the semantic model's metadata: names, existing descriptions, AI Instructions, and usage signals where your reports are tracked. It never sends your data. When BI Pixie phrases benchmark questions, the provider receives field names and the shape of each question, never the correct answer, so the answer key cannot leak into the test.
What's Next
- Optimizations, the fixes your provider writes for you.
- AI Assistants, to install the BI Pixie data agent and query your engagement data.
- Account Settings, to manage your provider on the AI tab.