Source: Microsoft has completed training a family of models, codenamed MAI, and is experimenting with swapping out OpenAI's models in Copilot for the MAI models
The significance is less that Microsoft has another model than that Copilot—one of its most visible AI distribution channels—could become a multi-model service rather than a primarily OpenAI-backed one.
First-order effects
Microsoft gains an internally trained option to test against OpenAI models in Copilot, giving its product teams more control over model selection.
OpenAI faces the prospect that a major distribution partner could reduce its role in Copilot if MAI proves suitable for particular workloads.
Second-order effects
The testing strengthens Microsoft’s negotiating position on model cost, performance, and availability, while making a mixed-model architecture more practical across its AI products.
If these experiments translate into deployment, enterprise AI platforms may increasingly treat frontier models as interchangeable suppliers selected by task, cost, and latency rather than as a single strategic dependency.
That would shift durable leverage toward platforms that own customer distribution, evaluation systems, and compute, while model makers compete more directly for placement.
The trend: This is one data point in the shift from exclusive model partnerships toward disciplined, multi-supplier AI model procurement by major platforms.
Yes, if open source or homegrown LLM models are almost as good and much cheaper to deploy, everyone is going to use the cheap models instead. This is a big problem for OpenAI and other startups trying to charge a premium for models that aren't clearly better when actually used i…
🚨🚨🚨BREAKING: Microsoft has begun cutting ties with OpenAI and is now testing models from xAI, Meta and DeepSeek for replacements in Co-pilot it's so fucking over [image]
News: MSFT staff under Mustafa Suleyman have trained a new family of models, dubbed MAI, that they think stack up with top models from OpenAI, Anthropic, etc. Suleyman's unit is also developing reasoning models: that could compete with o1/o3: https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
Unless you've been living under a rock for the last six months, the beginning of the end of the Microsoft open AI happy partnership has been evident. Either way Microsoft had to move towards building its own models, expanding to use more open source models and hedging its long-t…
Looks like $MSFT is abandoning the OpenAI ship.... Masayoshi Son top-ticked AGAIN. When will the Saudis say “This is enough! Stop fucking around, we want our cash back!”