Microsoft is threatening a lawsuit if OpenAI proceeds with its contract with AWS. OpenAI reportedly wants to devise a system with AWS to undermine Microsoft’s exclusivity.
Microsoft and OpenAI have been partners for years, and Microsoft intends to keep it that way, by legal means if necessary. The Financial Times reports that Microsoft will not hesitate to launch a lawsuit if it catches OpenAI in bed with AWS. At the end of last year, OpenAI and AWS signed a cloud contract worth tens of billions of dollars.
Frontier
The threats follow OpenAI’s announcement of Frontier in early February. Frontier is a platform that allows organizations to build, deploy, connect, and manage AI agents for operational work within a business context. OpenAI reportedly wants to bring this platform to companies via AWS as well, which would break Microsoft’s exclusivity.
Naturally, Microsoft is not pleased. The contract between OpenAI and Microsoft reportedly states in black and white that access to the AI company’s models must go through the Azure cloud. This significantly limits OpenAI’s ability to set up services with other parties. “We know our contract and will take them to court if they violate it,” the Financial Times quotes a source from the Microsoft camp.
Backdoor
OpenAI informed the same newspaper that it is unimpressed by the threats. The company says Microsoft will likely keep a low profile to avoid attracting the attention of regulators. After all, Microsoft has been under increased scrutiny for some time due to alleged anti-competitive practices involving Azure licenses.
Together with AWS, a system is being developed to bypass the contractual restrictions. OpenAI wants to set up a ‘stateful runtime environment’ with AWS Bedrock to link OpenAI agents to corporate data in Bedrock. The word ‘stateful’ is important here, as it means models have access to corporate data and context.
According to OpenAI, the restrictions only apply to offering models as APIs via other cloud platforms. AWS is reportedly more cautious with the terminology used. Cloud engineers have allegedly been given clear instructions to use terms like ‘powered by’ or ‘integrating with’ OpenAI, instead of ‘making use of’ or ‘providing access to’.
Rift
Even if it doesn’t come to a lawsuit, the relationship between OpenAI and Microsoft is clearly tarnished. OpenAI wants to break free from Microsoft, while Microsoft wants to maintain its exclusivity on OpenAI technology at all costs. “We are confident that OpenAI understands and respects the importance of fulfilling its legal obligations,” Microsoft concludes.