Microsoft is developing its own artificial intelligence models, hoping to compete with OpenAI. According to a report by The Information, the company is also exploring the potential of selling these models to developers.
The Redmond, Washington-based tech giant, a major investor in OpenAI, has begun testing AI models from xAI, Meta, and DeepSeek as potential replacements for OpenAI’s technology in its Copilot product. This move signals Microsoft’s intent to decrease its dependence on the ChatGPT creator, even though their early partnership gave Microsoft a significant advantage in the competitive AI market.
Reuters reported in December that Microsoft has been working on integrating internal and third-party AI models to diversify its flagship AI product, Microsoft 365 Copilot, and reduce associated costs.
When Microsoft unveiled 365 Copilot in 2023, its use of OpenAI’s GPT-4 model was a key selling point. The Information’s report indicates that Microsoft’s AI division, under the leadership of Mustafa Suleyman, has finalized the training of a suite of models, internally designated as MAI. These models reportedly perform nearly as well as top-tier models from OpenAI and Anthropic on standard benchmarks.
Furthermore, the team is developing reasoning models. These models leverage chain-of-thought techniques, a process that enables intermediate reasoning capabilities when tackling complex problems. These features could allow Microsoft to directly compete with OpenAI. Suleyman’s team is already experimenting with integrating the MAI models into Copilot, potentially replacing OpenAI’s models. According to the report, Microsoft is considering releasing the MAI models later this year as an application programming interface (API), which would allow external developers to incorporate the models into their own applications. Microsoft and OpenAI did not immediately respond to requests for comment, according to Reuters.
