Microsoft to offer rival AI models from own data center; launches AI coding agent
SEATTLE (Reuters) -Microsoft said on Monday it would offer new AI models made by Elon Musk's xAI, Meta Platforms and European startups Mistral and Black Forest Labs hosted in its own data centers, and unveiled a new artificial-intelligence tool designed to complete software coding tasks on its own. The announcements, made at Microsoft's annual Build software developer conference in Seattle, Washington, underscored the changing nature of Microsoft's relationship with ChatGPT creator OpenAI, which Microsoft has backed and which announced a directly competing product last week. Microsoft has recently situated itself as a more neutral player in the AI arms race, showing less appetite to shell out huge sums of cash to fund OpenAI's research ambitions while also working with a broader array of AI players, all with an eye on expanding sales while keeping a lid on costs.