Microsoft Develops AI Models to Compete with OpenAI
Microsoft is working on its own artificial intelligence reasoning models, as reported by The Information, potentially positioning the company to reduce its dependency on OpenAI.
The Redmond-based tech giant, a significant investor in OpenAI, has begun testing models from xAI, Meta, and DeepSeek, according to the report. These models are being considered as potential replacements for OpenAI’s technology in Microsoft’s Copilot.
Microsoft has been seeking ways to lessen its reliance on the ChatGPT maker, even as its early partnership with the startup gave it a leading edge in the competitive AI market.
Reuters previously reported that Microsoft has been integrating internal and third-party AI models to enhance its Microsoft 365 Copilot, aiming to diversify its underlying technology from OpenAI and cut costs. When Microsoft introduced 365 Copilot in 2023, it highlighted the use of OpenAI’s GPT-4 model.
According to The Information, Microsoft’s AI division, led by Mustafa Suleyman, has finished training a set of models, internally named MAI, that perform almost as well as leading models from OpenAI and Anthropic on standard benchmarks. The team is also developing reasoning models using chain-of-thought techniques, which allow for generating answers with intermediate reasoning steps when addressing complex problems, potentially competing directly with OpenAI’s offerings.
Suleyman’s team is already experimenting with incorporating the MAI models – which are larger than the previous family of Microsoft models called Phi – in Copilot, instead of OpenAI models, the report said. The company is considering releasing the MAI models later this year as an application programming interface (API), allowing external developers to integrate these models into their own applications.
Microsoft and OpenAI have not yet responded to requests for comment.
