Microsoft is expanding its use of artificial intelligence by integrating Anthropic technology into Office 365, in addition to OpenAI.
This was reported by The Information. The software company wants to reduce its dependence on a single supplier and improve the performance of AI functions in applications such as Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint.
For years, Microsoft worked almost exclusively with OpenAI, in which it has invested more than $13 billion. This collaboration gave the company a solid lead in the AI market. However, Microsoft is now opting for a broader approach. Developers involved in the AI features in Office have reportedly found that Anthropic’s latest models perform better than OpenAI’s in specific tasks, such as automating financial calculations in Excel or creating attractive presentations in PowerPoint.
Microsoft uses AWS
The collaboration with Anthropic means that Microsoft also uses Amazon Web Services (AWS). This cloud platform provides access to Anthropic’s models and is also one of the AI company’s largest shareholders. This is striking for Microsoft, as AWS is a direct competitor to its own Azure cloud. Nevertheless, the quality of the models seems to be important enough for Microsoft to take this step.
According to The Information, the collaboration with OpenAI will continue. Microsoft will continue to rely on that company’s models for so-called frontier models, the most advanced variants that push the boundaries of technology. OpenAI recently launched GPT-5, which, according to the report, offers a clear improvement in quality. Nevertheless, Anthropic’s Claude Sonnet 4 is said to score better in terms of creative and aesthetic output, particularly when generating presentations.
Microsoft is also working on its own AI models and integrating DeepSeek technology into Azure. The company wants to increase its capacity to meet the rapidly growing demand for AI services. The plans for Anthropic are expected to be officially announced within a few weeks. For users, there will be no change in the price of the AI features in Office 365 for the time being.
With this step, Microsoft is opting for a strategy that brings together multiple suppliers and technologies. In doing so, the company wants to achieve greater flexibility and better performance, while at the same time maintaining its long-term collaboration with OpenAI.