BLADE

BLADE (Blur and Anonymize Data Efficiently) is an tool based on Azure AI Services to blur and anonymize data efficiently. It is designed to help you to protect sensitive information in images.

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Inspiration

Handling sensitive documents manually is time-consuming and prone to human error. BLADE was created to automate PII (Personally Identifiable Information) detection and redaction, making document handling more secure and efficient.

What it does

BLADE is an AI-powered document redaction tool that automatically detects and blurs sensitive information (PII) in uploaded documents. Users can choose between fully automatic processing or manual verification, allowing them to review AI-detected data, adjust confidence thresholds, and refine redactions as needed.

Key features:

  • AI-driven PII detection (names, emails, phone numbers, etc.)
  • OCR-powered text extraction
  • Real-time document preview with bounding boxes for detected data
  • Manual review & correction options
  • Seamless document handling with Azure AI, Functions, and Blob Storage

How we built it

Frontend: Blazor WebAssembly for a fast, responsive UI Backend: Aspire to orchestrate .NET APIs, Azure Functions, and AI services AI & OCR: Azure AI Services for text extraction & PII detection (Computer Vision, Language, TextAnalytics) Storage: Azure Blob Storage for secure document handling Routing & Gateway: YARP for efficient API management

Challenges we ran into

  • Balancing automation & user control: Ensuring AI suggestions are reliable while allowing users to adjust results.
  • OCR accuracy: Improving text recognition across different fonts, handwriting, and document formats.

  • Performance optimization: Handling large file uploads and real-time document previews efficiently.

    Accomplishments that we're proud of

  • Successfully integrated AI-based text recognition & redaction

  • Built an intuitive, user-friendly review process

  • Achieved fast, accurate PII detection with adjustable confidence levels

  • Created a scalable architecture with Azure services and YARP

What we learned

  • How to integrate Azure AI Services into a real-world application
  • The importance of UX in AI-assisted decision-making
  • Optimizing Blazor WebAssembly for a smooth, fast UI
  • Designing an efficient API gateway with YARP

What's next for BLADE

I'll continue the project. Enhance PII detection, support more formats or even video files.

Built With

  • aspire
  • azure-ai
  • blazor
  • blob-storage
  • dotnet
  • yarp
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