Microsoft to Host Elon Musk’s Grok AI Model
Microsoft is gearing up to host Elon Musk’s Grok AI model on its Azure cloud service, as reported by The Verge on Thursday, citing a source familiar with the plans. The tech giant has been in discussions with Musk’s AI startup xAI in recent weeks to host the Grok model, making it available to customers and Microsoft’s own product teams.
Grok will be accessible on Azure AI Foundry, Microsoft’s platform for developers that provides access to AI tools and models to host, run, and manage AI-driven applications. Microsoft is reportedly looking to provide only the capacity to host the Grok model, not the servers for training future models.
The development comes amid escalating tensions between Sam Altman, CEO of ChatGPT maker OpenAI, and Musk, an OpenAI co-founder who left the startup in 2018. The pair is embroiled in a feud over OpenAI’s future, with Musk having sued OpenAI and Altman last year, alleging they had abandoned the startup’s original goal of developing AI for humanity’s benefit rather than corporate gain. OpenAI counter-sued Musk last month.
It remains unclear whether Microsoft will strike an exclusive deal to host the Grok AI model or if other cloud providers, such as Amazon’s AWS, will also be able to host the model. Microsoft has been developing in-house AI reasoning models to reduce its reliance on OpenAI and has begun testing models from xAI, Meta, and China’s DeepSeek as potential replacements in its Copilot AI assistant.
Microsoft recently made DeepSeek’s R1 model available on its Azure platform and GitHub tool for developers, following its surge in popularity. This move is part of Microsoft’s broader strategy to expand its AI offerings and reduce dependence on any single partner.
