OpenAI Breaks Free From Microsoft Exclusivity in Sweeping Partnership Overhaul

OpenAI and Microsoft announced a revamped partnership agreement that will allow the AI company to cap revenue share payments and serve customers across any cloud provider. The deal reshapes one of tech's most powerful alliances. Revenue share payments from OpenAI to Microsoft will be "subject to a total cap," but will continue through 2030, "independent of OpenAI's technology progress." Crucially, OpenAI will keep paying a revenue share to Microsoft, but Microsoft will stop paying one to OpenAI. Microsoft has agreed to drop its exclusive right to sell OpenAI's AI models — a perk that helped boost the software giant's cloud sales in the early years of the AI boom. In exchange, Microsoft will no longer pay a revenue share on OpenAI products it resells. Microsoft will continue to have a license to OpenAI's intellectual property on AI models through 2032, although the license will no longer be exclusive. Microsoft also no longer needs to determine its response if OpenAI reaches artificial general intelligence (AGI). The news follows a major OpenAI-Amazon partnership formed in February, with Amazon agreeing to invest up to $50 billion, and OpenAI expanding its existing $38 billion AWS agreement by $100 billion over eight years. Microsoft shares fell roughly 2% in premarket trading on the news.