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Microsoft and OpenAI announce key change to their multi-year partnership

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OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle today announced The Stargate Project, a new company to invest in AI infrastructure in the US. The new company will invest up to $500 billion over the next four years. Although Microsoft is not investing in this new company, it remains a key technology partner for OpenAI in building massive AI infrastructure in the coming years.

Microsoft confirmed via a separate blog post that the following key elements of its partnership with OpenAI remain the same for the duration of its contract through 2030:

  • Microsoft has rights to OpenAI IP (inclusive of model and infrastructure) for use within our products like Copilot. This means our customers have access to the best model for their needs.
  • The OpenAI API is exclusive to Azure, runs on Azure and is also available through the Azure OpenAI Service. This agreement means customers benefit from having access to leading models on Microsoft platforms and direct from OpenAI.
  • Microsoft and OpenAI have revenue sharing agreements that flow both ways, ensuring that both companies benefit from increased use of new and existing models.
  • Microsoft remains a major investor in OpenAI, providing funding and capacity to support their advancements and, in turn, benefiting from their growth in valuation.

Microsoft also revealed that OpenAI recently made a new, large Azure commitment that will be used for both model training and delivering its products and services.

To support OpenAI's Stargate efforts, Microsoft has made changes that would allow OpenAI to build its own AI infrastructure primarily for research and training models. But Microsoft has the right of first refusal (ROFR). This means OpenAI is obligated to utilize Microsoft Azure's AI infrastructure unless Microsoft is unable to provide the necessary resources or capacity.

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