Long like the fingers of the hand, the two companies are now with a knife drawn, while Optai seeks to emancipate from Microsoft to prepare for its IPO.
It is not yet open war, but we get closer. While Microsoft and Openai negotiate an agreement likely to open the way for an entry into the stock market for the mother of Chatgpt, Satya Nadella would be on the verge of slamming the door, annoyed by the lack of progress, as reported by several American media.
Faced with Microsoft’s refusal to make concessions to him, Openai would consider it to draw heavy artillery: file a complaint with the federal authorities against Microsoft for violation of antimonopole laws. A solution of last resort which would lead to the open war between the two partners, who have long worked in concert to win in the world of generative AI.
OPENAI commercial reorientation
The apple of discord is around Openai’s desire to change its legal statutes, to prepare for its IPO and honor the commitments it made from SoftBank, which has become the first OPENAI silverier with a colossal investment of $ 30 billion in the company in March 2025. The Sam Altman company has indeed committed to the Japanese Conglomerate Non -lucrative by the end of 2025 to become a full -fledged company, failing which Softbank would reduce its investment from 30 to 20 billion dollars.
OPENAI’s legal status is complex, since the company is controlled by a non -profit organization (OPENAI NONPROFIT), but also has a commercial branch (that which develops and markets Chatgpt) … which however has the status of “Public Benefit Corporation” (company of public interest). This model, which takes into account stakeholders and the social mission, was also adopted by other AI actors such as Anthropic or Xai. A legal complexity that reflects the history of Openai, born as a non -profit organization working for general artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity.
Since the dazzling success of Chatgpt, it has experienced a progressive commercial reorientation and struggle to articulate its original mission with its commercial business ambitions. A struggle which sometimes gave rise to internal conflicts, as when Sam Altman was briefly ousted from his post in November 2023 following a putsch of part of the executives, before being reinstalled under pressure of Satya Nadella.
Microsoft wants its share of the cake
Openai now intends to complete his moult in business for profit and emancipated from his large silveriier. The heart of the disagreement is on the part of Openai which would be owned by Microsoft after conversion to a company for profit, in exchange for the 13 billion that the IT giant has already invested in the company. Satya Nadella wishes a more important portion than that that Sam Altman is ready to give him, without knowing the exact figures. The Redmond giant, who very early invested massively in the company of Sam Altman, currently recovers 20% of its turnover.
Another point of disagreement lies in the total access from which Microsoft benefits on OpenAi technology. The latter now wishes to limit this access, while companies are increasingly in competition. Sam Altman’s company notably wishes to keep for it the intellectual property of the young Windsurf shoots, which uses AI to help programmers, bought in May for three billion dollars. Which is understandable when you know that Microsoft offers its own program assistance solution via AI, Github Copilot…
Long very linked to Microsoft, especially because of its dependence on the use of the Azure cloud, Openai began to emancipate it during the past year. In June 2024, the company signed an agreement with Oracle for the use of its cloud via that of Microsoft, a first opening to the detriment of Azure (which Optai continues to use). Since OpenAi’s participation in the Stargate project, announced at the end of January, Microsoft is also no longer the exclusive cloud supplier of Openai, which is now free to use Multicloud to meet its insatiable computer power needs. In early June, Openai also signed an agreement with Google Cloud.
Microsoft’s strategy on AI in danger
On paper, the threat of OpenAi to call the antitrust authorities against Microsoft to rescue to rescue Satya Nadella. Despite the change of administration, the American antitrust remains strongly determined to fight against the domination of the Big Tech. Sam Altman also intelligently prepared the ground by courting Donald Trump. Formerly very critical of the president, he has, like many leaders of Silicon Valley, operated on a 180 degree turn, associating with the president’s Stargate Stargate project, claiming to have “changed perspective” on him and believing that he could prove to be “excellent for the country”.
However, in March, the British competition gendarme, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said that the partnership between Openai and Microsoft was not a hindrance to competition, which is a bad sign for the complaint of Openai. If the American FTC is naturally not required to reach the same conclusions as its British counterpart, it is renowned for being particularly severe, including compared to the American regulator …
Microsoft sees, for its part, turn against it the strategy it has implemented in the generative AI. In early April, Mustafa Suleyman, debauched start-up inflection AI to direct the Microsoft division after a disguised acquisition, unwinding the main lines of this vision. “Our strategy is to be a close relative, given how much these models are intensive in capital.” Clearly: Leave OpenAi Investing Fortunes (thanks to Microsoft money, but not only) to cause the best generative AI models, and recover the benefits thanks to the access from which Microsoft benefits from Openai’s intellectual property. A model now endangered by the start-up’s desire to get out of its bulky benefactor.
And if she began to take her precautions to reduce her dependence in Openai, in particular by debaucharating Mustafa Suleyman and other leading engineers, Microsoft is still dependent on the company of Sam Altman, at a time when Amazon is building a giant data center for its anthropic partner and where Mark Zuckerberg signs hundred million dollars to recruit the best talents AI. No wonder, in this context, that Microsoft hardly intends to let his hen go to gold eggs without fighting.
