Microsoft loses exclusive access to OpenAI models; OpenAI can now sell to Amazon and Google cloud platforms

Microsoft will no longer hold exclusive access to OpenAI's AI models and products. OpenAI can now sell across rival cloud platforms including Amazon and Alphabet's Google. Microsoft retains a license to OpenAI's intellectual property through 2032 and remains its primary cloud partner, but will no longer pay a revenue share for OpenAI products sold on its cloud.

The revenue share OpenAI must pay to Microsoft through 2030 now carries a cap and is no longer tied to technology milestones, including whether OpenAI achieves artificial general intelligence (AGI—a level of AI capability matching or exceeding human intelligence across domains).

The change follows reports that Microsoft was considering legal action over OpenAI's $50 billion cloud deal with Amazon, which may have breached the exclusive arrangement. An internal OpenAI memo described demand since launching on Amazon's cloud as "staggering" and acknowledged the Microsoft partnership had limited its enterprise reach.