ChatGPT's ascent boosted Microsoft's AI strategy by providing access to OpenAI's latest and greatest models. But what began as a tight-knit partnership has since loosened, and the relationship between the AI lab and its biggest investor just got less exclusive.

On Monday, OpenAI announced “the next phase of the Microsoft OpenAI partnership,” which involved an amendment to the agreement granting OpenAI greater independence from its lead investor.

The most notable changes are that OpenAI can now offer its product to customers on any cloud provider, with Microsoft remaining OpenAI’s primary cloud partner, and products shipping first on Azure unless the Microsoft chooses not to.

Other major changes include:

• Product access: Microsoft will continue to have a license to OpenAI IP for models and products through 2032, but it is now non-exclusive.
• Revenue share: Microsoft will no longer pay OpenAI a revenue share, while OpenAI will continue to pay Microsoft at the same percentage through 2030, subject to a total cap. Prior to this, Microsoft shared 20% of OpenAI's model sales on Azure with OpenAI, while OpenAI shared 20% of its total revenue with Microsoft.
• Involvement: Microsoft “continues to participate in OpenAI’s growth as a major shareholder.”

The latest version of the agreement, amended in October 2025, was written so that Microsoft retained IP rights and Azure API exclusivity until OpenAI created AGI, or human-level intelligence. The blog post attributes “long-term clarity” as the motivator behind the amended agreement, and removing the AGI clause makes sense as a result.

That clause was controversial, as AGI itself is a nebulous concept, and its exact definition is highly contested; so much so that the agreement included a clause requiring AGI to be verified by an independent expert panel. The blog post attributes “long-term clarity” as the motivator behind the amended agreement, and removing the AGI clause makes sense as a result.

Our Deeper View

Both Microsoft and OpenAI have long held different approaches to AGI, and while Microsoft has repeatedly said this is not a point of contention, the distance between the two seemed inevitable given OpenAI's growth pace. More concretely, exclusivity terms that restricted OpenAI from selling to enterprises outside Azure were proving limiting, with OpenAI’s newly appointed revenue chief, Denise Dresser, saying in an internal memo that the Microsoft partnership has “limited our ability to meet enterprises where they are,” including on Amazon's AWS Bedrock. The non-exclusivity factor is a smart move for OpenAI, as it paves the way for major deals like the one with Amazon and clears a path to IPO by demonstrating diversified revenue and cloud flexibility to potential investors.