Microsoft to host Musk's Grok 3 despite ongoing OpenAI legal battle
Tech giant announces partnership with xAI at developer conference while Musk continues lawsuit against Microsoft and OpenAI
Fox Business Briefs 5/20
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Microsoft announced that it will host Elon Musk’s xAI Grok 3 on its Azure service, amid the tech mogul's legal battle with OpenAI and the Redmon-based tech giant.
In the lawsuit, which was filed in 2023, Musk accuses CEO Sam Altman of betraying OpenAI's non-profit mission by shifting it into a for-profit business.
The hosting news means that not only Grok 3 will be available, but users can access other artificial intelligence providers, including OpenAI's ChatGPT, Meta, Cohere and more.
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Elon Musk's Grok 3 will be hosted on Microsoft's Azure AI Foundry Models amid a lawsuit against Microsoft and Open AI. (Photo by Marc Piasecki/Getty Images / Getty Images)
On May 20, Musk said that he would continue to pursue legal action against OpenAI, creator of ChatGPT, and Microsoft. He made the comments at the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha.
Microsoft is a major investor in OpenAI, but Musk and the software giant don't appear to be letting the lawsuit get in the way of collaborating.
By becoming a hub that hosts multiple different AI models, including their own CoPilot, Microsoft said its "commitment to supporting an open, diverse AI ecosystem, rather than relying on a single model provider" remains.
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Grok 3 will be available for users for free for a limited time starting May 19. After, there will be a paid subscription. (Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Musk made a virtual appearance via a prerecorded video during Microsoft's Build developer conference in Seattle.
Musk and Altman created OpenAI together in 2015 with the stated hopes of advancing AI for everyone. But Musk left OpenAI in 2018 after disagreements about the future direction of the AI company.
Microsoft Azure AI Foundry Models will feature Grok 3, Meta, Nvidia and more providers for all to use. (Photo Illustration by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images / Getty Images)
According to Axios, Microsoft is trying to convince developers and businesses that its AI strategy is a better bet than those of its partner OpenAI and a slew of competitors, including Google and Amazon.
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A Microsoft spokesperson told Fox Business that they "believe in a platform approach to artificial intelligence, and part of that is offering our customers with the most comprehensive set of frontier and open-source models, both large and small, as we can."
"The addition of Grok is a reflection of our commitment to give our customers access to the most powerful AI models on the market," the Microsoft spokesperson said.
Microsoft said that Grok 3 will be available to use in a free preview until early June, after which a subscription will be required.
Nick Butler is a reporter for Fox News Digital. Do you have any tips? Reach out to Nick.Butler@Fox.com.