"Microsoft is reportedly preparing to integrate Anthropic's AI models into Office 365, marking a shift from its longstanding reliance on OpenAI technology. The addition would bring Anthropic's capabilities into productivity tools such as Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint, expanding the range of AI options available to customers, according to a report from The Information. The move reflects Microsoft's broader strategy of diversifying its AI stack."
"The report added that developers testing AI features for Office 365 found that Anthropic's models outperformed OpenAI in certain areas, including automating financial tasks in Excel and creating presentation-ready slides in PowerPoint from user prompts. To gain access to Anthropic's technology, Microsoft will reportedly work through Amazon Web Services, which holds a major stake in Anthropic. The shift underscores a broader move toward multi-vendor strategies in AI, echoing the path enterprises took with cloud computing."
"Analysts say Microsoft's plan is notable for enterprises, as Anthropic's Claude is emerging as a premium offering, particularly in software development. "LLM API prices are falling generation on generation across most model families of comparable size, but Anthropic has been able to command substantially higher prices for Claude APIs, and especially for Claude Code," said Alexander Harrowell, principal analyst for advanced computing at Omdia."
Microsoft will integrate Anthropic's AI models into Office 365, adding capabilities to Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint. The company is diversifying its AI stack by combining its investment in OpenAI with in-house models and third-party offerings such as DeepSeek on Azure. Early tests showed Anthropic's models outperforming OpenAI for automating Excel financial tasks and generating presentation-ready PowerPoint slides from prompts. Microsoft will access Anthropic through Amazon Web Services, which holds a major stake in Anthropic. The move reflects a shift toward multi-vendor AI strategies to avoid vendor lock-in, while potentially raising costs due to premium Claude pricing and AWS reliance.
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