Microsoft on track to pay Anthropic over $2bn a year for Copilot

Microsoft is on track to pay Anthropic more than $2 billion a year for models that power Copilot, The Information reported on 12 October, citing a single source.

The outlet said Microsoft is blending Claude with OpenAI models in Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint. Neither company has confirmed the $2 billion figure, which rests on one outlet and one source.

The Information reported that Charles Lamanna, Microsoft's new Office chief, pushed CEO Satya Nadella to pay for Anthropic models despite the higher cost. Several senior executives reportedly name Lamanna as a potential successor to Nadella.

Anthropic's newer models reportedly performed better on advanced Excel financial functions. They also performed better at generating PowerPoint decks from instructions, according to the report.

Customer complaints had described Copilot as "buggy and not good enough at automating work in Excel or PowerPoint," according to The Information's summary of the feedback.

An earlier report from The Information, in early 2026, put Microsoft's Anthropic spending at about $500 million a year. AI Weekly summarised the latest report on the same day.

The report does not say whether Microsoft is buying API inference, dedicated capacity or a longer-term commitment. It also does not say who absorbs the cost gap between Anthropic and OpenAI models. Microsoft and Anthropic have not confirmed the spending figure or those terms.