Microsoft taps Anthropic AI as it diversifies beyond OpenAI ties

Microsoft plans to diversify its portfolio by integrating both Anthropic and OpenAI technologies into its Office features

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Microsoft is in talks to integrate some of Anthropic technology in its Office 365 apps, according to a report by The Information. The move assumes significance as the tech giant has so far relied on artificial intelligence (AI) firm OpenAI for its AI offerings.

 

According to the news report, the company — a major OpenAI investor — plans to diversify its portfolio by integrating both Anthropic and OpenAI technologies into new features across Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint. As one of the key backers of OpenAI, Microsoft has so far invested close to $13 billion in the company.

Anthropic outperforms OpenAI

Developers working on Microsoft Office’s AI features believe that Anthropic outperforms OpenAI in various tasks, including processing financial commands on Excel and creating Powerpoint presentations. Anthropic’s Claude Sonnet 4 generates more aesthetic Powerpoint presentations than OpenAI’s ChatGPT-5, the report cited one of the two developers.

 

However, there will be no change in the pricing of the office tools, the report mentioned. To access Anthropic models, the company is willing to pay a fee to one of its biggest cloud rivals Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS is one of Anthropic’s largest shareholders. 

OpenAI vs Anthropic

Here are some of the key features offered by Anthropic's Claude Sonnet 4 and OpenAI's GPT-5:

OpenAI’s GPT-5

Switches between a fast “main” model and a deeper “thinking” model, based on input complexity and user intent

Delivers strong performance across coding, math, writing, health, and visual perception

Excels at debugging large repositories, and generating aesthetically refined artifacts from concise prompts

Generates nuanced, expressive, structurally coherent content—from iambic verse to compelling prose

Reduced factual errors: Around 45 per cent less than GPT-4o in normal responses, and around 80 per cent less in “thinking” mode

Anthropic’s Claude Sonnet 4

Impresses on coding benchmarks like SWE-bench (72.7 per cent)

Performs well in agentic tool tasks, and is integrated into GitHub Copilot

Excels at extracting meaning from charts, diagrams, and complex visuals

Models are rigorously evaluated, with improvements in hallucination reduction and instruction adherence

Benefits from best practices in prompt engineering

OpenAI looks to slash Microsoft’s revenue

Microsoft’s diversification plans also follow reports stating that OpenAI intends to reduce the company’s share of its revenues. A May report by The Information stated that OpenAI is preparing to cut Microsoft’s revenue share from the current 20 per cent to about 10 per cent by the end of the decade.