Microsoft’s executives outlined a plan for salespeople to negatively compare AI products from companies like OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic to its own products in an internal meeting on Tuesday, according to Bloomberg. The meeting focused on pitching the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of Microsoft’s in-house models compared to its competitors.
“Everyone else is selling parts — we’re selling the full end-to-end system. That’s the story that we all need to get out there and tell in FY27,” Microsoft Executive Vice President Jay Parikh reportedly told the room.
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Copilot executive vice president Jacob Andreou also reportedly delivered a presentation comparing Copilot directly to Anthropic’s chatbot Claude. Andreou noted when it came to performance within Microsoft’s office apps, Anthropic’s model was “slower and less accurate, and lacked the proper security integrations.”
A TechCrunch report said that while it is not unusual for companies to train its sales team to talk down its rivals, the situation with Microsoft is noteworthy as it is targeting the companies it used to depend on for the AI models powering its products.
Previous reports also mentioned that the company is starting to replace OpenAI and Anthropic with its own AI models in software products like Excel and Outlook. A person familiar with the matter said that tens of thousands of AI prompts in the widely used spreadsheet and email applications are now being completed each week with Microsoft’s internally built MAI model.
This comes as Microsoft is making progress in its efforts to build competitive artificial intelligence models at a lower cost. AI model chief Mustafa Suleyman said in June the company was trying to reduce spending on Anthropic by using more MAI models.
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Microsoft and OpenAI used to have a close partnership. Years ago, the companies entered a unique agreement where Microsoft provided capital and compute to OpenAI while allowing Microsoft to enjoy exclusive access to OpenAI’s API and models. The companies amended the partnership in April, dropping the exclusivity clause and clearing OpenAI to sell to Microsoft’s competitors.
The TechCrunch report also mentioned that Microsoft has been battling a less-than-optimal stock outlook over the past year, as investors question the company’s massive spending on the buildout of its AI business. Talking up its competitiveness is likely an attempt to calm those waters and build confidence in Microsoft’s long-term AI plan.