OpenAI memo reveals cracks in Microsoft partnership, boosts Amazon ties

OpenAI is reported to double down on Amazon collaboration to expand its enterprise business. In an internal memo, Denise Dresser, the company’s new revenue chief, told employees that OpenAI sees greater opportunity in its partnership with Amazon, while its long-standing collaboration with Microsoft comes with limitations that may be holding back its ability to reach clients.

According to a CNBC report, the memo revealed its push back against Microsoft. “Our Microsoft partnership has been foundational to our success. But it has also limited our ability to meet enterprises where they are,  for many that’s Bedrock,” Dresser wrote in the internal memo. 

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She further discussed its partnership with the e-commerce giant Amazon, under which Amazon will invest $50 billion in OpenAI. “Since we announced the partnership at the end of February, inbound demand from our customers for this offering has been frankly staggering,” she added. 

While OpenAI has only recently tapped Amazon’s technologies, including its AI models via the Bedrock platform, Microsoft has long been a backbone to the company. It has supported OpenAI since its early days and has played a key role in the launch of ChatGPT. Since 2019, Microsoft has invested over $13 billion in OpenAI.

The move comes as OpenAI shifts its focus to expand its business-to-business offerings and to rival Anthropic’s growing dominance in the enterprise segment. Dresses also highlighted Anthropic’s growth in the AI space, saying that its strategy is built on “fear, restriction, and the idea that a small group of elites should control AI.”

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“They use accounting treatment that makes revenue look bigger than it is, including grossing up rev share with Amazon and Google,” she added. 

Now, as the AI war intensifies, OpenAI’s message to its employees is clear: its exclusive reliance on Microsoft is over. To map the next phase of the AI, the company must be catering to its customers even if that means stepping out from under the shadow of the partner that helped build it.