Microsoft is celebrating its 50th anniversary with an event centered around its Copilot AI assistants
As Microsoft quietly celebrates its 50th anniversary with employees, the tech giant is preparing to unveil major updates to its consumer AI initiatives, including new capabilities for its AI assistant, Microsoft Copilot.
The announcement follows reports that Microsoft is developing its own in-house AI models — dubbed “MAI” — designed to reduce reliance on OpenAI. These models have reportedly shown strong performance in benchmark tests, rivaling offerings from OpenAI and Anthropic.
Microsoft remains OpenAI’s largest investor and retains first refusal rights on cloud partnerships, even after a January 2025 agreement loosened the companies’ exclusivity. At the same time, Microsoft is evaluating models from Meta, DeepSeek, and xAI as potential alternatives.
Last week, Microsoft introduced new deep reasoning features to Copilot, including two experimental AI agents — Researcher and Analyst — available this month via Copilot Studio. The tools are part of a new initiative, “Frontier,” which offers early access to emerging AI features for Microsoft 365 users.
