MAI

MAI is an AI model built directly by Microsoft. Microsoft uses OpenAI's models in its Copilot product, but at the same time it develops its own models under its own name. Think of it like a restaurant that sells ingredients from an outside supplier while also cooking up its own recipes in the back kitchen.

This dual position is what makes it interesting. Microsoft controls the code editor, the storage where developers keep their code, and even OpenAI's models — yet it's still growing its own model called MAI. It's the kind of dual strategy big companies run: making good use of what they license from others while quietly building their own.

As one article puts it, "Microsoft's AI organization licenses OpenAI's GPT to power Copilot while also training its own model, MAI — making it both a developer and a reseller." It's easy to assume every model inside Copilot comes from OpenAI, but Microsoft is simultaneously a reseller of other companies' models and a developer building its own.