Microsoft’s Researcher AI Agent Can Now Make GPT and Claude Models Work Together

Microsoft’s Researcher AI agent is getting a new ‘Critique’ feature that uses OpenAI’s GPT and Anthropic’s Claude models together to improve the quality of its responses. A new Council model in Researcher can also be used to compare responses from different AI models side by side.

Claude models became available in Researcher as an alternative to GPT models back in September. With the new Critique mode, the AI agent will use both models at the same time and combine their strengths for deep research tasks.

“GPT drafts, Claude reviews for accuracy, completeness, and citation integrity before it’s delivered. We expect this workflow to be bidirectional in the future,” Microsoft said about the new Critique feature in Researcher. The company also pointed out that Researcher with Critique now scores 13.8 higher on the DRACO benchmark, which analyzes deep research quality.

The new Council mode in Researcher, which delivers side-by-side comparisons across Anthropic and OpenAI models, is also available today from the model picker. It will give users two separate reports created with each model, as well as a summary of the key points of agreement and divergence.

Microsoft’s Researcher agent is available to everyone with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license. In addition to these Researcher updates, the company also announced today that its Claude-powered Copilot Cowork agent, which is designed to complete multi-step tasks, is now available in early access via its Frontier program.