Analyze resource purpose

Overview

The Cost intelligence view for resources in Cost Analyzer includes a built-in AI capability, Analyze resource purpose, available under AI Agents, that helps users understand what an Azure resource does, who depends on it, and whether it is still actively needed.

What the AI Agent analyzes

• Resource type, SKU, region, and provisioning state
• Resource tags and their implied purpose
• Activity signals — last activity, data size, and orphan risk
• Resource-specific configuration and security settings
• Usage patterns inferred from metrics and logs

Insight breakdown

1. Resource status and cost summary

Displays the current status, age of the resource, and amortized cost for the last 30 days.

2. What is this resource?

Describes the resource type, configuration, and inferred role, along with the tags applied to it.

3. What is it likely doing?

Lists the probable functions of the resource, each labeled as Confirmed, Observed, or Inferred based on the source of evidence.

4. Activity signals

Summarizes last activity, data size, and orphan risk to help identify whether the resource is actively in use or potentially idle.

5. Resource-specific deep facts

Surfaces detailed configuration facts — SKU, region, access settings, and encryption — with status indicators for each.

6. Who depends on it?

Lists the teams, workloads, and platform services that rely on this resource, with a brief explanation for each dependency.

Sample illustration

The GIF below highlight the insights provided by the AI Agent for an Azure Storage Account resource: