At the start of the year, Elon Musk’s xAI introduced its most advanced model yet Grok 3 positioned as a rival to Microsoft’s Copilot. However, in an unexpected development, Microsoft and xAI are now partnering, with Microsoft announcing that it will host both Grok 3 and Grok 3 Mini on its Azure AI Foundry service.
This announcement was made at Microsoft’s Build Developer Conference today, where the company revealed plans to integrate Grok AI into its platform. As a result, Microsoft will begin offering Grok 3 to its internal teams as well as to Azure AI Foundry customers.
Microsoft stated, “These models will have all the service level agreements (SLAs) Azure customers expect from any Microsoft product.” This move aligns with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s strategy to position the company as a leading hosting platform for cutting-edge and in-demand AI services, according to The Verge.
In January, Nadella directed engineers to test and deploy DeepSeek R1 on Azure AI Foundry. Now, the focus shifts to Grok. However, considering the history between OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Elon Musk, this partnership could potentially create some internal challenges within Microsoft. Regardless, it appears to be a win-win for Azure AI Foundry users.
