Microsoft 365 users can now choose between ChatGPT and Claude for their AI needs

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Copilot users can now use Claude models, should they want to

A woman sitting in a chair looking at a Windows 11 laptop
(Image credit: Microsoft)
  • Microsoft Copilot is gaining access to Anthropic’s Claude models
  • They’ll be hosted on AWS, and accessed via an API
  • Office apps could soon get Claude models, too

Microsoft has added Anthropic’s Claude Sonnet 4 and Claude Opus 4.1 to the selection available for Copilot users, marking a major shift as it pivots away from exclusively offering OpenAI models.

Anthropic’s models will be available across two areas at first – a new ‘Try Claude’ button appears in the researcher agent experience, and will also be available in Copilot Studio, where users can opt for Claude models to help with building custom AI agents.

Business & Industry Copilot President Charles Lamanna announced the change in a blog post, noting Microsoft’s “commitment to bring the best AI innovation from across the industry” to Copilot.

Microsoft now offers Anthropic models for Copilot

Claude models have started rolling out to users on the Frontier program, Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Studio users can opt in, but there is a key difference between the Anthropic and OpenAI offerings.

Anthropic’s models will not be hosted on Azure, but rather they will be accessed via an API and hosted on AWS infrastructure.

Though it marks a shift for consumer and enterprise models within the Microsoft ecosystem, developers have already had access to other models, and indeed GitHub Copilot in VS Code recently started favoring Claude Sonnet 4 over OpenAI models.

With Claude outperforming OpenAI models in Excel and PowerPoint tasks, it could just be a matter of time before alternatives start to become available within Microsoft’s productivity suite.

“This is just the beginning,” Lamanna said. “And stay tuned: Anthropic models will bring even more powerful experiences to Microsoft 365 Copilot.”

All of this comes after OpenAI and Microsoft parted ways. Once exclusive partners, OpenAI has now signed up with Google Cloud and others for compute, so it was only natural that Microsoft would begin using other AI models too.

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Craig Hale
Craig Hale

With several years’ experience freelancing in tech and automotive circles, Craig’s specific interests lie in technology that is designed to better our lives, including AI and ML, productivity aids, and smart fitness. He is also passionate about cars and the decarbonisation of personal transportation. As an avid bargain-hunter, you can be sure that any deal Craig finds is top value!

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