Microsoft
The giant wiring models into Office, GitHub and the cloud
WHAT IT IS
Microsoft was founded in 1975, grew on operating systems and office software, and has invested heavily in cloud and AI in recent years. It is closely tied to OpenAI through investment and Azure, and wires models into its Copilot line. It also develops the small Phi models, probing how far reasoning can be pushed at small scale.
Why it matters
It pushed model capability straight into Office, Windows and GitHub, products that already had hundreds of millions of users, making "AI as a feature rather than a standalone app" the main way big tech ships it.
Key milestones
- 1975
Founded
- 2021
GitHub Copilot previewed
- 2023
Released Microsoft Copilot
Representative products
3GitHub Copilot
2021Completing and rewriting code in your editor from context
Phi
2023Small, efficient models built from curated data
Microsoft Copilot
2023Conversational AI woven into the operating system and office apps