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ZDNET's key takeaways
Microsoft will pay Anthropic for access to its AI models.
They'll go toward new features in Office 365 platforms.
Microsoft and OpenAI are distancing themselves from one another.
Microsoft will slacken its dependence on OpenAI through a new partnership with Anthropic, The Information reported on Tuesday. The deal will enable Microsoft to embed Anthropic's AI systems into Microsoft 365 (formerly Office) platforms like Excel, PowerPoint, and Word.
Also: AI's free web scraping days may be over, thanks to this new licensing protocol
This marks a turning point for Microsoft, which has otherwise been largely (though not entirely) reliant on OpenAI's technology to power its consumer-facing AI efforts. The company has also played a major role in fueling OpenAI's ascent to the forefront of the AI race by investing more than $13 billion in the company since 2019.
(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, ZDNET's parent company, filed an April 2025 lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)
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