Microsoft trains sales team to undercut OpenAI and Anthropic

Microsoft is reportedly preparing its sales team to aggressively promote its own AI models by downplaying competitors like OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic. At an internal meeting this week, executives outlined a strategy for the new fiscal year focused on pitching the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of Microsoft’s in-house models versus those of rivals. Jay Parikh, Executive Vice President, told the room: “Everyone else is selling parts — we’re selling the full end-to-end system. That’s the story that we all need to get out there and tell in FY27.” Copilot executive vice president Jacob Andreou went further, directly comparing Copilot to Anthropic’s Claude within Microsoft’s office apps, claiming the rival model was “slower and less accurate, and lacked the proper security integrations.”

This aggressive sales tactic marks a significant shift for Microsoft, which has long depended on OpenAI and Anthropic for the AI models powering its own products. A report earlier this month found Microsoft has been swapping those models out of Word and Excel in favor of its own, citing cost-cutting. The revised partnership with OpenAI (which dropped exclusivity in April) may explain the new competitive stance. As Microsoft faces investor scrutiny over its massive AI spending, talking up its own products appears to be an attempt to reassure the market and assert independence from former partners.