Microsoft wants to open up its Copilot to models other than OpenAI’s. In doing so, it is looking at its own models, but does not rule out outside parties.
According to Reuters sources, Microsoft 365 Copilot will no longer rely exclusively on OpenAI AI models in the future. Microsoft wants to open up the AI assistant to other models to diversify more. In addition to its own models, Microsoft would also look at external “open-weight models,” according to Reuters.
Printing costs
Efficiency is the watchword behind this move by Microsoft. The software giant wants to be able to keep down the high cost of keeping Copilot running. By doing so, it also wants to keep the cost of Copilot under control for users. A Copilot subscription today costs $30 a month on top of the traditional 365 cloud subscription.
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Microsoft is working on its own in-house developed AI models under the name Phi. Earlier this month it released Phi-4: a language model with 14 billion parameters that Microsoft says outperforms models from OpenAI, Google and Meta. Copilot pairing a smaller, more efficient models should keep costs lower for Microsoft.
Open marriage
Microsoft pumped billions of dollars into OpenAI over the past few years. In exchange for pennies and server capacity, Microsoft was given exclusive priority over OpenAI’s models. Microsoft has made rapid inroads into the AI industry thanks to OpenAI’s collaboration, causing envy among competitors. Perhaps that is precisely why Microsoft wants to prove that it can do it itself.
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Microsoft OpenAI’s exclusive relationship is evolving into an open marriage. Microsoft confirmed to Reuters that OpenAI remains a key partner for advanced AI technology. “We are integrating different models of OpenAI and Microsoft, depending on the product and experience we want to provide,” said a spokesperson.