OpenAI Breaks Free From Exclusive AI Pact With Microsoft (1)

Microsoft Corp. and OpenAI have agreed to drop the software giant’s exclusive right to sell the startup’s AI models, opening the door for the ChatGPT maker to pursue deals with cloud-computing rivals like Amazon.com Inc.

In exchange for ending that exclusivity — which helped boost Microsoft’s cloud sales in the early years of the AI boom — the world’s largest software maker will no longer pay a revenue share on OpenAI products it resells on its cloud. The two companies announced the revised deal in a joint statement on Monday.

The new pact is meant to simplify a complicated relationship ...