OpenAI and Microsoft Reach Deal to Give Startup New Freedom

OpenAI and Microsoft MSFT -0.87%decrease; red down pointing triangle have reached a truce.

The startup and its longtime partner have forged a new deal that offers OpenAI more freedom to partner with Microsoft's rivals, caps the amount of revenue it must share with the software giant through 2030 and removes a controversial clause in prior agreements. Microsoft, meanwhile, will retain access to the startup's models and products.

Microsoft was one of OpenAI's earliest partners and is among its largest investors, collaborating on computing power, chips and cybersecurity. But the companies' pact grew contentious last year as the artificial-intelligence race heated up, in part because of the control Microsoft had over OpenAI's intellectual property and exclusivity agreements forged earlier in their relationship.