Microsoft is deepening its collaboration with its main competitor, Anthropic. The company is now integrating Anthropic’s new AI models into its Copilot AI assistant, which previously relied primarily on OpenAI’s technology.
This move signals a gradual shift in the once-exclusive partnership between Microsoft and OpenAI. The development follows Microsoft’s recent agreement to use Anthropic’s AI in Office 365 applications, including Word, Excel, and Outlook.
Business users of Copilot will now be able to choose between two different models for specific tasks: OpenAI’s advanced reasoning models and Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.1 and Claude Sonnet 4. This provides significant advantages for complex research, creating custom AI tools, and enterprise-level agent development.
Claude Opus 4.1 is designed for complex logical reasoning, coding, and deep architecture planning.
Claude Sonnet 4, on the other hand, is better suited for everyday development tasks, large-scale data processing, and content creation.
This integration reflects Microsoft’s aim to strengthen its position in the AI space while offering users more choice and flexibility.
