OpenAI-MS Alliance Restructured... Doors Open to AWS and Google

OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, and Microsoft (MS) have agreed to amend their contract so that the exclusive rights MS previously held to use OpenAI’s artificial intelligence (AI) models will be converted to a non-exclusive license. As a result, competitors such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud will also be able to use OpenAI’s AI.

On April 27 (local time), MS and OpenAI released a joint statement announcing these changes. With the amended contract, OpenAI will now offer its products through all cloud providers. However, MS remains OpenAI’s primary cloud partner, and OpenAI will continue to launch new services on MS Azure first.

Reuters Yonhap News

MS will continue to hold intellectual property licenses for OpenAI’s models and products until 2032, as before, but the license will now be non-exclusive rather than exclusive. Additionally, MS will no longer share revenue from selling OpenAI products through its own services.

The condition that OpenAI will allocate a certain percentage of its revenue from model and product sales to MS until 2030 remains unchanged. However, the previous clause stating that revenue sharing would end if OpenAI achieved artificial general intelligence (AGI) before 2030 has been removed. According to industry sources, MS currently receives about 20% of revenue from OpenAI product sales.

The two companies, which worked closely as a team in the early days of AI adoption and contributed to the growth of Azure, are now entering a new phase where they will each pursue their own growth after this contract revision. The amendment aims to resolve conflicts between the two firms and acknowledges OpenAI’s business expansion. Recently, OpenAI decided to provide enterprise AI services to AWS, a competitor of MS. In response, MS indicated that it would pursue legal action.

As OpenAI prepares for an initial public offering (IPO), it will offer AI services not only through MS but also through other cloud providers. Meanwhile, MS can streamline resources by expanding its investments in its own AI products such as Copilot. The removal of exclusivity clauses is also expected to strengthen both companies’ positions in responding to antitrust investigations in various countries.

In their joint statement, the two companies said, "With the revised contract, we have greater predictability, enabling both parties to build and operate large-scale AI platforms together while also securing the flexibility to pursue new opportunities."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.