When Microsoft reported killer fourth-quarter earnings for its fiscal 2026 year (which ended June 30), it tucked in an interesting little tidbit about how its investments in the two biggest, and competing, AI labs are doing.
Interesting that Microsoft is effectively running a portfolio strategy instead of betting on a single lab. Anthropic is already paying off on paper while OpenAI looks much more volatile. That alone suggests the AI race is far less settled than the headlines usually imply, even for the company funding both sides. And now the Chinese Open Weight AI models are coming onto the scene too, offering almost the same quality.
Interesting that Microsoft is effectively running a portfolio strategy instead of betting on a single lab. Anthropic is already paying off on paper while OpenAI looks much more volatile. That alone suggests the AI race is far less settled than the headlines usually imply, even for the company funding both sides. And now the Chinese Open Weight AI models are coming onto the scene too, offering almost the same quality.