Last year, reports emerged suggesting that Microsoft's partnership with OpenAI had begun to fray. The software giant was apparently planning to integrate third-party AI models into its Microsoft 365 Copilot service, seemingly moving away from its overdependence on the ChatGPT maker's flagship models.
A separate report by The Information claimed that Microsoft is developing in-house models and testing third-party ones for Copilot, including DeepSeek, Meta, and Elon Musk's xAI.
Now, The Verge reports that Microsoft has plans to host Elon Musk's Grok AI model. According to the outlet's source, Microsoft has been in discussions with xAI over the past few weeks about the move.
If the deal pulls through, Microsoft will host Grok AI, making it available for its broad user base. It will also make the model available to the company's product teams via its Azure cloud service.
While Microsoft and xAI remain quiet about the existence of any deal, The Verge claims that Grok AI will be available on Azure AI Foundry.
For context, Azure AI Foundry is a generative AI development hub for developers that gives access to AI tools and models that allow them to host, run, and manage AI-driven apps.
According to the report, Microsoft only plans to host xAI's Grok model. To that end, it doesn't have plans to host the company's servers to train any of its future AI models.
As you may know, OpenAI's Sam Altman and Elon Musk have an interesting history. Musk helped Altman form OpenAI; however, the 'bromance' was short-lived, turning into a bitter feud.
Over the past few months, Elon Musk has filed two lawsuits against OpenAI and Sam Altman, citing a stark betrayal of the ChatGPT maker's founding mission. The second suit cited alleged involvement in racketeering activities and a fake humanitarian mission.
Billionaire Musk has also contested OpenAI's evolution into a for-profit entity.
OpenAI is seemingly hell-bent on transitioning into a for-profit organization, perhaps because of the mounting pressure for investors from its latest round of funding, which helped raise $40 billion, pushing its market cap to $300 billion.
Failure to meet this threshold could open up the AI firm to outsider interference and hostile takeovers. Market analysts and experts predict that Microsoft could even acquire OpenAI in the next 3 years.
