Microsoft to buy from Anthropic, diversifying AI portfolio

Microsoft is set to integrate Amazon-backed Anthropic’s AI into Office 365 apps, according to The Information, marking a shift from its years-long reliance on OpenAI.

It will pay to use Anthropic’s technology as executives reportedly believe the AI startup’s Claude Sonnet 4 outperforms OpenAI’s models in specific tasks, such as generating more polished PowerPoint presentations.

The move marks Microsoft’s AI diversification strategy. It had been an early investor in ChatGPT maker OpenAI with over $13 billion, but the partnership is shaky.

OpenAI pursues its own infrastructure projects and a LinkedIn rival product. Meanwhile, Microsoft is advancing AI models and adding DeepSeek to Azure.

It is also offering models like Anthropic’s Claude and xAI’s Grok on GitHub Copilot, while building its own systems, including MAI-Voice-1 and MAI-1-preview.

However, Microsoft reaffirmed its commitment to OpenAI, in which it has invested over $13 billion.