To diversify from the current OpenAI underlying technology and cut expenses, Microsoft, has been working on integrating internal and third-party artificial intelligence models to power its flagship AI product Microsoft 365 Copilot.
Microsoft, a major supporter of OpenAI, is making a new attempt to reduce its reliance on the AI firm.
This is different from previous years when Microsoft boasted about having early access to OpenAI’s models.
One of Microsoft’s main selling points when it unveiled 365 Copilot in March 2023 was that it made use of OpenAI’s GPT-4 model.
Microsoft is also looking to lessen 365 Copilot’s reliance on OpenAI because of worries about cost and speed for enterprise users.
OpenAI remains the company’s partner on frontier models, which are the most cutting-edge AI models on the market.
The software behemoth is permitted to alter OpenAI’s models under the terms of the initial agreement between the two businesses.
Depending on the product and experience, Microsoft said in a statement,
“We incorporate various models from OpenAI and Microsoft.” OpenAI opted not to respond.
Microsoft is aiming to modify additional open-weight models to make 365 Copilot faster and more effective in addition to training its own smaller models, such as the most recent Phi-4.
One of the individuals stated that the objective is to lower the cost of Microsoft’s 365 Copilot operations, which might then be passed on to the final consumer.
Microsoft executives, including CEO Satya Nadella, are keeping a close eye on the initiatives.
Similar actions have been taken by other Microsoft business units that have modified their OpenAI model usage.
GitHub, which Microsoft purchased in 2018, added anthropic and Google models in October as substitutes for OpenAI’s GPT-4o.
Copilot, its consumer chatbot, was redesigned in October and is now powered by both OpenAI and in-house models.
Laptops 1000The AI assistant Microsoft 365 Copilot, integrated into Microsoft’s business software package, which includes Word and PowerPoint, is still attempting to demonstrate to businesses how much it is worth.
Concerns have been raised regarding pricing and usefulness, and Microsoft has not disclosed precise sales figures regarding the quantity of licenses sold.
According to a poll conducted in August by research firm Gartner, the vast majority of 152 IT businesses have not advanced their 365 Copilot programs beyond the pilot level.
However according to analysts at BNP Paribas Exane, uptake has accelerated, and they anticipate that Microsoft will offer 365 Copilot to over 10 million paying customers this year.
In a November blog post, Microsoft also revealed that 70% of Fortune 500 firms are using 365 Copilot.
