Microsoft launches own AI models to take on OpenAI, Google

Tech giant Microsoft has released its first in-house artificial intelligence (AI) models under the Microsoft AI (MAI) team. The two models are:Significance

The Satya Nadella-led company will directly compete with the likes of Meta and OpenAI, the latter of which it has invested in since 2019. The MAI initiative was born out of the company’s push to create homegrown models and cut its reliance on the ChatGPT maker, especially after its leadership overhaul and senior exits since late 2023. By taking the AI reins in its own hands, Microsoft gains more control over how its technology works and how much it costs.

Microsoft has already deployed these models in its Copilot tools, including Copilot Daily and Copilot Labs. The new models are also designed to work better with Microsoft’s products such as Windows, Office, and Teams.

How do these stand out?

• MAI-1-preview uses a “mixture-of-experts” design, which it claims makes the models more efficient and scalable than traditional models.
• MAI-Voice-1 can generate a minute of audio in less than a second and supports multiple speakers and voice styles.

Microsoft’s models will mainly compete with OpenAI’s GPT-4 and GPT-5, Google’s Gemini, Anthropic’s Claude and Meta’s LLaMA. Each of these companies has a headstart in building and distributing its AI systems to consumers. Microsoft is counting on its vertical integration with everyday tools and its strong enterprise reputation to race ahead.

The company also plans to build more specialised models and continue using a mix of its own, OpenAI’s, and open-source models.

This comes weeks after OpenAI officially launched GPT-5, terming it their most advanced model yet. The much-anticipated model features major upgrades in reasoning, coding, writing, health, and multimodal capabilities.

Feedback from users, however, has been mixed. The model’s capabilities were impressive said some, but the rollout itself faced issues. Many users complained about rate limits, touch-mode glitches, and the removal of older models, which the company had to reverse later.

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