Azernews.Az

by Alimat Aliyeva

Microsoft and ChatGPT developer OpenAI have revised the terms of their partnership. Under the updated agreement, the AI company will be able to offer its products not only through Microsoft’s infrastructure but also via other cloud platforms, AzerNEWS reports.

According to the new terms, Microsoft will retain its license to OpenAI’s intellectual property, including models and products, until 2032. However, this access will no longer be exclusive. This means Sam Altman’s company will be free to collaborate with other cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud.

At the same time, Microsoft remains OpenAI’s key strategic partner and the primary provider of cloud computing through its Azure platform. The tech giant also continues to hold a significant stake in OpenAI, maintaining its influence over the company’s development.

Reuters reports that the revised agreement effectively allows OpenAI to expand its commercial reach beyond Microsoft’s ecosystem, increasing competition in the rapidly growing generative AI market, where companies like Google, Anthropic, and Amazon are also heavily investing.

Earlier, the Financial Times reported that Microsoft had considered potential legal action against OpenAI and Amazon over the launch of a “Frontier” project, which may have conflicted with the exclusivity terms of their 2019 agreement—originally signed after Microsoft’s $1 billion investment in the startup.

An interesting takeaway from this shift is that OpenAI is gradually evolving from a tightly bound Microsoft partner into a more independent AI platform. Some analysts even compare this transition to the idea of becoming an “Android of AI” — a foundational technology layer available across multiple cloud ecosystems rather than being tied to a single provider.