Names, versions and owners change fast. Checked October 2026.
In plain words
Microsoft is a company, not an AI model. Founded in 1975 and best known for Windows and Office, it now plays several different roles in AI at once.
First, it builds AI into the products people already use. That assistant is called Copilot, and it sits inside Windows, Word, Outlook, Teams and the Edge browser. Second, it runs Azure, a cloud: huge data centres that other companies rent to train and run their own AI.
Third, it is a long-time partner and investor in OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, and has used OpenAI's GPT models in many of its products. Fourth, it now trains its own models too, under the name MAI. So when people say "Microsoft AI", they may mean any of these four things.
Everyday example
A big mall owner
Think of a company that owns a huge shopping mall. It runs its own shops on the ground floor. It rents the upper floors to other brands. It owns a share in a famous restaurant chain that is also its tenant. And lately it has opened its own kitchen. Microsoft's own apps are the shops, Azure is the rented space, OpenAI is the restaurant, and MAI is the new kitchen.
Where the example breaks: A mall's shops and tenants rarely share recipes. Microsoft's products can run on its partner's models, its own models or other labs' models, often mixed inside the same product.
Latestas of October 2026
- Stake in OpenAI
- About 27% of OpenAI Group PBC after OpenAI's October 2025 restructuring, as Microsoft stated then
- Partnership terms
- Revised 27 April 2026: Azure stays OpenAI's primary cloud, but OpenAI can sell through any cloud, and Microsoft's licence to OpenAI's models runs to 2032, now non-exclusive
- Own models
- MAI family; seven models launched 2 June 2026, led by the reasoning model MAI-Thinking-1, with further updates since
- Models in Copilot
- OpenAI's GPT models, Anthropic's Claude models in Microsoft 365 Copilot since September 2025, and MAI-Code-1-Flash in GitHub Copilot since June 2026
These details change often. The rest of this page explains what it is, which stays true.
How it actually works
Microsoft's AI work splits into four layers that feed each other.
Assistants in everyday software
Copilot is Microsoft's AI assistant brand. It reads what you have open, such as a document or an email thread, and drafts, summarises or answers. GitHub, which Microsoft owns, offers a separate coding assistant, GitHub Copilot.
Azure: renting the computers
Training and running large models needs thousands of GPUs. Azure rents that computing power to companies, and its developer service, Foundry, lets them pick from many labs' models and build them into apps.
The OpenAI partnership
Microsoft first invested in OpenAI in 2019. Since then it has supplied much of OpenAI's computing and gained rights to use OpenAI's models in its own products. The terms have been revised several times, in October 2025 and again in April 2026.
Its own models
A group called Microsoft AI trains in-house foundation models under the MAI name, for text, coding, images, speech and voice. These sit alongside partner models, so a product can switch between them.
- What it is
- American technology company, founded in 1975
- Main AI products
- Copilot assistants, GitHub Copilot, and Azure AI services for businesses
- OpenAI partnership
- Began in 2019; revised in October 2025 and April 2026
- Own model family
- MAI, made by its Microsoft AI group
Microsoft is one of several big technology companies that both build AI and rent the computers to run it. Amazon and Google play similar roles.
Questions people ask
Does Microsoft own OpenAI?
No. Microsoft is a major investor and partner in OpenAI and holds a large minority stake, but it does not own or control it. OpenAI designs and runs its own products, such as ChatGPT, and sells its models to other companies too.
Is Copilot just ChatGPT?
No. Copilot is Microsoft's own assistant, designed and run by Microsoft. It has mainly used OpenAI's GPT models underneath, and Microsoft has added models from other labs and its own. ChatGPT is OpenAI's separate app.
What is Azure AI?
Azure is Microsoft's cloud: computers in large data centres that businesses rent by the hour. Its AI services let companies use ready-made models, including OpenAI's and other labs', or train and run their own, without buying the hardware.
Does Microsoft make its own AI models?
Yes. Its Microsoft AI group trains models under the MAI name, covering text, reasoning, coding, images, speech recognition and voice. Microsoft offers them to developers through its cloud and uses some of them in its own products.