1534 ET - Microsoft may be at risk of losing ground to its own artificial-intelligence supplier, Meilus analysts write in a note, warning that "the fox is in the henhouse." Among Microsoft's key selling points for Copilot is its integration with Anthropic's Claude models.But enterprises can buy access to Claude directly, while Claude Cowork, unlike Copilot, can run on local devices or be routed through cloud services other than Microsoft's Azure. Microsoft "is now on pace to spend $500M annually licensing Anthropic's models just to keep Copilot competitive," the analysts write. "The best thing in Microsoft's flagship $99 AI bundle is Anthropic IP, which raises an obvious question - what happens to Microsoft as Anthropic's capabilities increasingly become 'the product' rather than just an integration?" (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 23, 2026 15:34 ET (19:34 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.