Microsoft launches AI tool that competes with Anthropic
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Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios
Microsoft launched Copilot Cowork on Monday, an enterprise AI agent built on Anthropic's technology and named after the Anthropic product that wiped hundreds of billions off Microsoft's market cap.
Why it matters: Anthropic invented the product that threatened Microsoft's stock, and Microsoft's answer was to take the name, license the technology, and turn it into a Copilot feature, signaling that Copilot is no longer just an OpenAI product.
State of play: Anthropic launched Claude Cowork in January, a business product for non-technical workers that can manipulate, read, and analyze files on a user's computer.
- The launch was in part what sparked a near $1 trillion selloff in software stocks: investors felt Anthropic's products looked a lot like software and could replace much of the sector.
- Microsoft, the biggest software company in the S&P 500, shed roughly $220 billion in market cap in one week.
- Now, Microsoft is responding to the pressure, launching its own AI-powered coworker with the same name, which it built in part using its competitor's technology.
Between the lines: This looks like Microsoft's answer to investor concerns about AI eating software.
- The stock was slightly lower Monday morning, though the entire market is under pressure amid the war in Iran and a spike in oil prices.
Zoom in: Copilot Cowork was built after "working closely with Anthropic," according to a Microsoft blog post, but the Copilot tools are multimodal, meaning it will use the "right model for the job."
- "This is a pattern of work that will only become more powerful as new models and ways of working emerge," the company said in the post.
Follow the money: Microsoft has been quietly building its use of and relationship with Anthropic, as it looks to reduce its dependence on key partner OpenAI.
- Anthropic landed a $15 billion investment from Microsoft and chip-giant Nvidia last November.
Zoom out: Anthropic has maintained that it isn't interested in replacing software, but rather becoming the interface by which software is accessed.
- That distinction matters less if Microsoft, which says it owns the interface for 90% of Fortune 500 companies, is now the one selling Anthropic's vision of the future, under Anthropic's name, to Anthropic's target customers.
The bottom line: The $380 billion startup built the thing that scared everyone.
- Whether it also gets to own it is a different question.
