Report: Microsoft’s Office Apps May Get New AI Features Powered by Anthropic

Microsoft is reportedly planning to use AI models from OpenAI competitor Anthropic to develop new intelligent features in its Office apps. The new partnership revealed in a report from The Information suggests that Microsoft no longer wants to rely exclusively on OpenAI’s models to implement new AI features in its productivity suite.

In recent years, Microsoft invested billions of dollars into OpenAI and built its various Copilot offerings using the company’s cutting-edge AI models. However, the relationship between Microsoft and OpenAI has grown tense as the AI startup is planning to transition into a for-profit company. In June, a report from the Wall Street Journal revealed that OpenAI was considering making antitrust complaints to regulators to pressure Microsoft to change the terms of their strategic partnership.

OpenAI, which could soon reach a $500 billion valuation via a potential $6 billion share sale, may increasingly appear as a rival to Microsoft. The Redmond giant did create a new Microsoft AI organization to develop its own AI models, but as this effort will take time, the company may be looking at other ways to lessen its reliance on OpenAI’s technology.

According to The Information, Microsoft leaders consider that Anthropic’s latest Claude models beat OpenAI’s flagship models for certain tasks, such as creating PowerPoint presentations. According to Anthropic, its new Claude Sonnet 4 model is particularly good at extracting information from visuals like charts, graphs, and complex diagrams.

In a statement shared with TechCrunch, a Microsoft spokesperson said “As we’ve said, OpenAI will continue to be our partner on frontier models and we remain committed to our long-term partnership.” That doesn’t exclude Microsoft from using cutting-edge models from OpenAI’s competitors for new AI features, however.