According to The Information, Microsoft will now pay to integrate Anthropic’s AI into its Office 365 suite, referencing details from two insiders. With this change, Anthropic’s technology will be used to power upcoming features in Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint, working alongside OpenAI’s solutions. This signals an end to Microsoft’s exclusive dependence on the creator of ChatGPT for its productivity tools.
Microsoft’s expansion of its AI collaborations comes as tensions with OpenAI grow, especially as OpenAI pursues its own infrastructure and explores launching a competitor to LinkedIn.
Microsoft’s arrangement with Anthropic arrives as the company is also in talks to establish a renewed agreement with OpenAI for continued access to its AI models following an upcoming shift to a for-profit structure. However, The Information notes this isn’t a bargaining ploy. Executives at Microsoft believe Anthropic’s latest model, Claude Sonnet 4, outshines OpenAI in certain areas, such as designing visually appealing PowerPoint slides.
This isn’t Microsoft’s first foray into broader AI partnerships. Despite OpenAI remaining its primary model, Microsoft also provides access to models like xAI’s Grok and Anthropic’s Claude through GitHub Copilot. The company is also moving towards greater autonomy, having recently launched its own models, MAI-Voice-1 and MAI-1-preview.
At the same time, OpenAI is also working to become less reliant on Microsoft. Just last week, OpenAI introduced a job search service to rival Microsoft’s LinkedIn, and The Financial Times revealed that OpenAI plans to begin large-scale production of its first AI chips with Broadcom by 2026. This development could allow OpenAI to independently handle training and inference on its own hardware, reducing its reliance on Microsoft’s Azure infrastructure.
“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 contacted Anthropic for a statement.
This story has been updated to include Microsoft’s comment and further background information.
