Microsoft is making a major shift with Copilot, moving beyond OpenAI and introducing a true multi model approach, including Claude. In our latest video, MD Henry Duncombe and CTO Dan O’Hara break down what’s driving this change, what users can expect, and how it will shape the use of AI across Microsoft 365.
Video transcript
Microsoft Copilot goes multi-model: The shift beyond OpenAI
AI is moving at an increasingly fast pace, and staying on top of it is a constant challenge. Recently, there have been some very interesting developments on the Microsoft Copilot front that represent a significant change and a major strategic pivot for Microsoft.
The shift to a multi-model system
Behind the scenes, Microsoft Copilot isn't its own unique AI model or a standalone "brain." Historically, Microsoft has licensed OpenAI's ChatGPT technology—meaning that using ChatGPT and using Copilot was, near enough, the exact same thing.
However, Microsoft has now introduced Claude, the AI model developed by Anthropic.
Rather than relying on a single AI vendor, Microsoft is creating a "gallery" of different AI models.
Pros and cons of the new direction
This new, multi-model approach brings clear advantages, as well as a few distinct disadvantages:
The Advantages: Previously, gaining access to the unique strengths of different AI companies required maintaining multiple separate subscriptions.
Now, Microsoft is bringing these diverse capabilities into "one box." Users can leverage different strengths in one central location without constantly worrying about which vendor has the best model at any given month. The Disadvantages: Inevitably, the AI vendor who actually builds a model tends to offer the best user interface for it. Historically, even though Copilot used ChatGPT's models, many users found the native OpenAI experience to be better. A similar gap may occur with integrated third-party models.
Despite these interface trade-offs, Copilot remains one of the strongest enterprise AI tools on the market due to its robust privacy and confidentiality guarantees. Bringing new models into this secure ecosystem is a highly exciting development.
Why make the pivot now?
This shift was largely unexpected. Microsoft was joined at the hip with OpenAI from a very early stage, integrating ChatGPT as the foundational basis of Copilot for years.
However, anyone familiar with the industry knows that Microsoft’s exclusivity deal with OpenAI was never going to last forever. Microsoft has had to start planning for life beyond just a single partner. While they have attempted to develop their own internal models, that process hasn't moved as quickly as needed—leading them to draw in Anthropic's Claude to rapidly deliver model choice to their users.
