Are you surprised that Microsoft is distancing itself from OpenAI/ChatGPT?
Computerworld.com reported “Microsoft recently released its own large language models — the technology that underlies all generative AI (genAI), from OpenAI’s ChatGPT to Google’s Gemini, Anthropic and others. Until now, Microsoft has relied on ChatGPT to be Copilot’s brains. But with Microsoft and OpenAI fighting about what Microsoft should get from its $13 billion investment in OpenAI, there’s been talk about whether Microsoft would eventually develop AI on its own.” The September 10, 2025 article entitled " Microsoft launches its own LLMs — here’s what that really means” (https://www.computerworld.com/article/4053700/microsoft-launches-its-own-llms-heres-what-that-really-means.html) included these comments:
The two recently released LLMs are the first from Microsoft AI and offer hints about Microsoft’s plans for AI development and its relationship with OpenAI. One of the models, MAI-Voice-1, will eventually become Copilot’s voice interface. As Microsoft noted, it is “designed to provide powerful capabilities to consumers seeking to benefit from models that specialize in following instructions and providing helpful responses to everyday queries.”
Microsoft likely developed the model at least in part because ChatGPT’s voice mode has been notoriously problematic. Many users have complained about flaky connections, and an inability by ChatGPT to understand what it’s been asked or to respond properly. One person who goes by the moniker “Deepimpact” on OpenAI’s Development Community forums puts it this way: “ChatGPT’s voice chat feels indistinguishable from a trivial conversation overheard at a bar counter, with someone of limited education and poor expressive ability.”
Plenty of other users on the forum agreed. That’s why you can expect MAI-Voice-1 and later versions to become the voice interface for Copilot — and probably all Microsoft AI products.
The other model, MAI-1-preview, is far more interesting, and probably represents Copilot’s future. Microsoft is being cagy about what this particular model can do today or might do tomorrow, saying little more than that it is an initial “foundation model trained end-to-end and offers a glimpse of future offerings inside Copilot.”
And just what are those future offerings? Microsoft offers no details aside from the kind of hype you’ve come to know and hate from tech companies: “We are actively spinning the flywheel to deliver improved models. We’ll have much more to share in the coming months. Stay tuned!”
That said, it’s abundantly clear MAI-1 will be initially used to augment ChatGPT as Copilot’s brains — what Microsoft calls “future offerings inside Copilot.” For now, that’s likely to mean new Copilot capabilities, although Microsoft isn’t saying what they might be.
What do you think?