Microsoft Expands AI Offerings With Rival Models and New Coding Agent
- tech360.tv
- 2 minutes ago
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Microsoft announced Monday it will host AI models from xAI, Meta Platforms, Mistral, and Black Forest Labs in its own data centres, while also launching a new AI-powered coding agent.
The announcements were made at Microsoft’s annual Build developer conference in Seattle. The move signals a shift in Microsoft’s AI strategy, as it broadens its partnerships beyond OpenAI, which recently unveiled a competing product.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said the new models will be offered with the same reliability guarantees as OpenAI’s models hosted by Microsoft.
The company will provide xAI’s Grok 3 and Grok 3 Mini, Meta’s Llama models, and offerings from French startup Mistral and German startup Black Forest Labs. These additions bring the total number of AI models available to Azure customers to more than 1,900.
All models will run within Microsoft’s own data centres, allowing the company to ensure availability and reduce outages caused by high demand.
Microsoft also introduced a new GitHub Copilot feature, described as a coding agent. Unlike earlier versions that generated code snippets, the new agent can complete entire coding tasks based on brief human instructions.
The agent will notify users when it finishes coding, allowing for human review. OpenAI released a similar tool, Codex, last week.
Microsoft’s broader vision includes enabling businesses to build their own AI agents for internal tasks using Azure Foundry, a service that supports custom agent development based on any AI model.
Asha Sharma, corporate vice president for product of Microsoft AI platforms, said these agents will likely use a mix of different models.
Sharma added that Microsoft plans to expand its model offerings and improve capacity sharing across popular models through Azure OpenAI.
The company is also developing a system to assign digital identifiers to AI agents, allowing them to function like human employees within corporate systems.
Bob O'Donnell, president and chief analyst at TECHnalysis Research, said treating AI agents as digital employees could unlock new capabilities but also raise workplace concerns.
Microsoft to host AI models from xAI, Meta, Mistral, and Black Forest Labs
New GitHub Copilot coding agent can complete tasks with minimal input
Azure Foundry enables businesses to build custom AI agents
Source: REUTERS