Microsoft plans to bring Anthropic's Claude models to Office 365, according to a report from The Information. The Claude models will be integrated into Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook—running alongside Microsoft’s existing OpenAI-based models.
The move is driven by performance, the report says. Anthropic models like Claude Sonnet 4 outperformed OpenAI’s GPT models on tasks such as building PowerPoint presentations and automating financial functions in Excel. Claude’s ability to generate visually appealing presentations stood out in particular. Even though OpenAI’s GPT-5 has improved, Claude still produces better results in certain areas.
Microsoft will access Anthropic’s models through Amazon Web Services (AWS), since they aren’t hosted on Microsoft’s own Azure cloud. That means Microsoft is paying a direct cloud rival for access, whereas it can use OpenAI’s models on Azure at no extra cost thanks to its multibillion-dollar investment.
Microsoft wants AI in Office, Anthropic and OpenAI want Office in AI
Claude models are expected to handle more complex tasks in the Office Copilot AI assistant. Pricing will stay the same at $30 per user per month, according to the report. An official announcement is expected in the coming weeks.
Office Copilot is a key strategic bet for Microsoft. Analysts estimate that if just 1 percent of Office’s 430 million users adopt Copilot, it could bring in over $1 billion a year. Still, users have repeatedly run into bugs and unfinished features—especially when creating presentations or editing spreadsheets. The push for stronger models could be a response to these issues.
While Microsoft is integrating both Anthropic and OpenAI models, each company is also developing its own productivity tools to compete directly with Office. For example, ChatGPT can now generate Excel files and PowerPoint presentations using an agent, and Anthropic just announced a similar feature for Claude.
