Microsoft to lessen reliance on OpenAI by buying AI from rival Anthropic

Microsoft will pay to use Anthropic’s AI in Office 365 apps, The Information reports, citing two sources. The move means that Anthropic’s tech will help power new features in Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint alongside OpenAI’s, marking the end of Microsoft’s previous reliance solely on the ChatGPT maker for its productivity suite. 

Microsoft’s move to diversify its AI partnerships comes amid a growing rift with OpenAI, which has pursued its own infrastructure projects as well as a potential LinkedIn competitor.

Microsoft’s Anthropic deal also comes as the company negotiates a new deal with OpenAI to secure access to its AI models after a pending for-profit restructuring. But The Information says the move isn’t a negotiating tactic. Leaders at Microsoft believe Anthropic’s latest models — Claude Sonnet 4, specifically — perform better than OpenAI’s in certain functions, like creating aesthetically pleasing PowerPoint presentations.

This isn’t the first time Microsoft has branched out, though. While OpenAI is the default model, Microsoft offers other models like xAI’s Grok and Anthropic’s Claude through GitHub Copilot. Microsoft is also trying to set itself up for self-reliance. The company recently introduced its first two in-house models: MAI-Voice-1 and MAI-1-preview.

Meanwhile, OpenAI is similarly seeking to step out from under Microsoft’s influence. Last week, OpenAI launched a jobs platform to take on Microsoft’s LinkedIn, and The Financial Times reported that OpenAI is set to begin mass production on its first AI chips in partnership with Broadcom in 2026. That means it will be able to potentially run training and inference on hardware it controls, rather than being dependent on Microsoft’s Azure setup. 

“As we’ve said, OpenAI will continue to be our partner on frontier models and we remain committed to our long-term partnership,” Microsoft spokesperson Michael Collins told TechCrunch.

TechCrunch has reached out to Anthropic for comment.

This article has been updated with comment from Microsoft and additional context.