Why OpenAI is turning against Microsoft after years of partnership

OpenAI Microsoft

Things seem to be getting tense between OpenAI and Microsoft, two companies that have been close partners in the AI space for a while now. A new report from The Wall Street Journal says their relationship is starting to crack—and it might get worse.

According to the report, some top executives at OpenAI have thought about calling out Microsoft publicly for being too controlling and possibly behaving in an anticompetitive way. They’ve even considered asking the government to review their contract with Microsoft.

At the heart of it, OpenAI wants a bit more freedom. It’s trying to loosen Microsoft’s grip on its tech and cloud resources. But there’s a catch—OpenAI still needs Microsoft’s approval to fully switch over to being a for-profit company, so they can’t exactly break ties just yet.

One major sticking point is OpenAI’s planned $3 billion deal to buy Windsurf, an AI coding startup. Microsoft is interested in Windsurf’s technology because it could boost its own tool, GitHub Copilot. But OpenAI doesn’t want Microsoft to get access to that tech and that’s causing even more friction.

What’s also telling is that OpenAI has reportedly been trying to move away from using Microsoft’s cloud services a sign that it wants to rely less on the tech giant going forward.

For now, the partnership is still in place, but it’s clear that things aren’t as friendly as they once were. Whether this turns into a full-on fallout remains to be seen.