Yeah, the arrangement between OpenAI and MSFT is complex and a pretty good example of the circular deals that are becoming more common.

Microsoft was an early large investor in OpenAI. They get priority access to the models, and can use them in their products for the next 8 years as a result. They still use OAI for most (Copilot etc), but incorporate others these days as well. Not open source like you suggest AFAIK, but their own proprietary models.

OpenAI builds and serves their models on Azure (partly), and pays MSFT to do so. This used to be a contractual obligation, but no longer is. This article is about just how important that payment is/was to MSFT's AI business, implying it would be devastating if OpenAI chose to wind down their Azure spend and go with another provider.

That's my understanding of the situation.

The msft-openai tie-up is probably the least concerning of the "circular" deals since it's a natural outgrowth of a rather pedestrian investment/incubation. I'm not saying you're saying that, just pointing it out.