Microsoft has largely relied on OpenAI’s artificial intelligence models to power AI features in its key products. It’s trying to lessen that dependence. The software company said Thursday that it’s begun publicly testing a homegrown AI model that could lead to enhancements to its Copilot assistant for consumers. The MAI-1-preview model is being tested on LMArena, a website where people can conduct evaluations. “We will be rolling MAI-1-preview out for certain text use cases within Copilot over the coming weeks to learn and improve from user feedback,” Microsoft said in a blog post. The company has published a form where developers can request early access. Meanwhile, Microsoft remains a key backer of OpenAI and strategic partner to the AI startup that’s now valued at about $500 billion. Microsoft has invested over $13 billion in OpenAI, which in turn relies on cloud infrastructure from Microsoft to run its models. Microsoft draws on models from OpenAI to power features in Bing, the Windows 11 operating system and other products.
Full report : Microsoft starts testing AI model that could escalate competition with OpenAI.