Microsoft Foundry: Model search in "Select a model" dialog silently ignores unmatched search terms instead of showing "no results"

[Jubin Soni (jubins)]

Technical Feedback

In the Azure AI Foundry portal (ai.azure.com), the "Select a model" dialog does not correctly handle unmatched search terms. When a user searches for a model name that isn't present in the catalog (for example, a retired or renamed model like gpt-4o-mini), the search box retains the typed query, but the results grid does not filter down, it continues to display the full, unfiltered list of all base models (screenshot below).

There is no visual indication that the search term returned zero matches. The list looks identical to the default/unsearched state, so it's not obvious to the user that their search failed rather than simply not narrowing results.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Go to ai.azure.com → open or create a project → Deployments → "Select a model"
2. In the search box, type a model name not currently in the catalog (e.g. gpt-4o-mini)
3. Observe that the full base model list is still shown, with no "no results" messaging

Desired Outcome

When a search term does not match any model in the catalog, the dialog should display a clear "No models found matching '{search term}'" empty state instead of silently reverting to the full list.

If possible, it would also be helpful to suggest a replacement model when the searched name corresponds to a retired/renamed model (e.g. pointing from an old model name to its current equivalent).

Current Workaround

Manually scroll through the full unfiltered model list to confirm whether the desired model is genuinely unavailable, since the search results give no reliable signal either way.

In this case, the model was in fact available but only appeared on the second page (screenshot below), the search did not surface it despite an exact name match, confirming the search results are not accurate.