Reports indicate that Microsoft will pay for the use of Anthropic's AI in Office 365 applications. The shift indicates that Anthropic’s technology will enhance new functionalities in Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint in conjunction with OpenAI’s, signaling the conclusion of Microsoft’s previous dependence exclusively on the ChatGPT creator for its productivity tools.

Microsoft's efforts to expand its AI collaborations arise amid an increasing divide with OpenAI, which has been developing its own infrastructure initiatives along with a possible competitor to LinkedIn.

Microsoft's agreement with Anthropic occurs as the company is in discussions with OpenAI to obtain access to its AI models following an upcoming for-profit reorganization. However, The Information reports that the action isn't a strategy for negotiation.

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Microsoft leaders are of the opinion that Anthropic’s newest models — Claude Sonnet 4, in particular — surpass OpenAI’s in specific tasks, such as generating visually appealing PowerPoint presentations.

This isn’t the initial occasion Microsoft has expanded its reach, however. Although OpenAI is the standard model, Microsoft provides additional models such as xAI’s Grok and Anthropic’s Claude via GitHub Copilot.

Microsoft is also working to establish self-sufficiency. The firm recently launched its initial two in-house models: MAI-Voice-1 and MAI-1-preview.

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At the same time, OpenAI is also aiming to reduce its reliance on Microsoft. OpenAI introduced a job platform last week to compete with Microsoft’s LinkedIn, and The Financial Times noted that OpenAI plans to start large-scale production of its initial AI chips with Broadcom in 2026.

This implies it could possibly conduct training and inference on hardware it manages, instead of relying on Microsoft’s Azure infrastructure.

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"OpenAI will keep partnering with us on frontier models, and we are dedicated to our long-term collaboration," stated Microsoft representative Michael Collins.