Microsoft is prepared to abandon high-stakes negotiations with OpenAI over the future of their six-year artificial-intelligence alliance, the Financial Times reported. The software maker, which has poured more than $13 billion into the ChatGPT creator since 2019, is ready to rely on its existing commercial agreement—covering access to OpenAI technology until 2030—if the two sides cannot settle how much equity Microsoft should receive in a restructured OpenAI, people familiar with the talks told the paper. The Information earlier said OpenAI wants Microsoft to swap its lucrative revenue-sharing arrangement for roughly a one-third stake in a newly shaped for-profit unit and to loosen exclusivity terms tied to Microsoft’s Azure cloud. That proposal would mark a sharp shift from the current deal, under which Microsoft earns about 20 percent of OpenAI revenue up to $92 billion. Separately, the Wall Street Journal reported that OpenAI executives have considered accusing Microsoft of anticompetitive behaviour, underscoring strains that have built up around compute access, intellectual-property rights and the conversion that OpenAI must complete by year-end to secure fresh funding. The rift has already rippled into other transactions. OpenAI’s planned $3 billion acquisition of AI-coding startup Windsurf collapsed last week, in part over concerns about how Windsurf’s technology would sit within the Microsoft partnership, according to The Verge and The Information. Within hours, Google DeepMind hired Windsurf’s chief executive and key researchers and agreed to pay about $2.4 billion for a non-exclusive licence to some of its technology. On Monday, rival Cognition AI stepped in to buy the remainder of Windsurf—including its intellectual property, brand and staff—adding a business that records roughly $82 million in annualised recurring revenue. Whether Microsoft and OpenAI can close a fresh pact will shape not only their own futures but also the broader race among Big Tech companies to secure scarce AI talent and intellectual property while navigating intensifying regulatory scrutiny.