Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) appears set to partially replace some artificial intelligence technology from OpenAI with Anthropic, to help power its Office 365 apps, The Information reported.
The technology from Anthropic — which is backed by Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Google (GOOG) (GOOGL) and others — will break a stranglehold that OpenAI has had with Microsoft since the former invested billions of dollars in the latter in January 2023. OpenAI’s tech has been used for new features in Microsoft’s productivity suite of software that includes Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint.
As part of the deal, Microsoft will pay Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) Web Services to access the Anthropic models, the news outlet added, citing a person familiar with the matter. AWS is the sole provider of Anthropic’s models.
Microsoft’s Azure and AWS are the two biggest cloud computing service providers, followed by Google’s Cloud Platform. OpenAI’s ChatGPT competes with Anthropic’s Claude in the generative AI chatbot space.
Microsoft and OpenAI have been locked in a heated negotiation for several months over OpenAI’s plan to restructure its for-profit unit. It’s unclear if the switch is a negotiating tactic by Microsoft, but company executives have also found that Anthropic’s models work better for Office AI features, the person added. Anthropic’s Claude Sonnet 4 is seen performing better in areas such as PowerPoint presentation creation, the person explained.
The price of Microsoft’s AI tools is expected to remain the same, at $30 per user per month. OpenAI is still expected to power Microsoft’s Copilot generative AI app.
OpenAI, Microsoft, Anthropic and Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Seeking Alpha.