Microsoft broadens its AI landscape, offering new choices in Copilot with Anthropic models alongside OpenAI, empowering businesses to drive smarter, tailored solutions.
Microsoft has announced the integration of Anthropic AI models into its Microsoft 365 Copilot suite. Anthropic’s models, including Claude Sonnet 4 and Claude Opus 4.1, will now be available to corporate clients, empowering them to create and manage customized AI agents using Copilot Studio.
Charles Lamanna, President of Business & Industry Copilot at Microsoft, expressed his excitement about the integration, stating,
“We’re excited to announce that we’re expanding the models that power Microsoft 365 Copilot with the addition of Anthropic models. Copilot will continue to be powered by OpenAI’s latest models, and now our customers will have the flexibility to use Anthropic models too—starting in Researcher or when building agents in Microsoft Copilot Studio.”
A New Era of AI for Business Users
For businesses, the inclusion of Anthropic's AI models opens new possibilities for streamlining workflows and tackling more complex tasks with greater precision. One of the first products to feature Anthropic models is Microsoft 365 Copilot’s Researcher agent. This tool helps users navigate complex, multistep research tasks by analyzing web data, emails, chats, meetings, and files to deliver high-level expertise on demand.
See the Researcher Agent in Microsoft 365 Copilot—Now with Model Choice
Additionally, Microsoft’s Copilot Studio now allows users to combine Anthropic models with OpenAI models, giving them full control over which AI tool best suits their specific needs. The flexibility to mix models for different tasks, whether for deep reasoning, workflow automation, or specialized functions, offers businesses a broader range of options for enterprise-grade tasks.
Strategic Shift in Microsoft’s AI Partnerships
Microsoft's move to add Anthropic's Claude models to the Copilot suite marks a significant change in the company's AI agenda. While the technology giant has been the preeminent investor and primary cloud partner for OpenAI, its increasingly extensive usage of Anthropic technology reflects a more complex landscape of AI collaboration.
However, OpenAI continues to expand its collaborations with other top players, including Oracle and Nvidia. Despite this, Microsoft has reaffirmed that its collaboration with OpenAI is solid, with OpenAI models still being a central element of Microsoft's AI-powered applications, including Bing and Windows.
