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Microsoft (MAI)

Best known for reselling OpenAI’s models via Copilot, but now also ships its own in-house “MAI” model family.

Checked September 19, 2026

Microsoft’s in-house models

No lab publishes a real roadmap

So this page keeps three things apart on purpose. What has already shipped is dated. What is coming is listed only where the lab itself has said it in public, with the source named. Everything else sits under “What to watch” and is my own read of their shipping pattern — informed guessing, not news. If a date matters to you, check the lab's own page linked above.

What they are

Microsoft is best known for reselling OpenAI's models through Copilot, but it now ships its own in-house MAI model family too.

Its free access is mostly bundled rather than offered: you get MAI capability inside VS Code, GitHub Copilot and Microsoft 365 rather than as a standalone free tool you sign up for.

What they currently ship

Every model in the directory entry, with its free-tier status.

  • MAI-1-preview— Microsoft’s first fully in-house general-purpose model — testable free on LMArena, with limited free use inside some Copilot features.Free with limits
  • MAI-Code-1-Flash— A lightweight coding model, now the default model in VS Code and bundled into GitHub Copilot.Free
  • Note: Voice, image and transcription MAI models exist but are mostly accessed bundled inside Microsoft 365 apps (Copilot, PowerPoint, Teams) rather than as standalone free tools.

What you get for free

The honest version, in one paragraph.

Free if you already use Microsoft's tools. The coding model is bundled into VS Code and GitHub Copilot at no extra cost, and you can try the general model free on LMArena. There is no general-purpose free API, and the voice and image models arrive bundled inside paid Microsoft 365 apps.

Track record

Things that actually happened, oldest first, each with a date.

  1. 2023–2025Copilot rolls out across Windows, Office and GitHub, powered largely by OpenAI models.
  2. August 2025MAI-1-preview and MAI-Voice-1 are announced as Microsoft's first in-house models.
  3. 2026MAI-Code-1-Flash becomes the default model in VS Code.

Confirmed and announced

Only what the lab has stated in public. Nothing here rests on a rumor.

  • MAI-1-preview is testable free on LMArena, with limited free use inside some Copilot features.

    Announced by the lab

  • MAI-Code-1-Flash is bundled free into VS Code and GitHub Copilot.

    Stated on the lab's own pricing or docs page

What to watch

My own read of where this lab is heading, based on how it has shipped so far. Not announcements — treat these as questions to check, not facts.

  • — How far the in-house line displaces OpenAI models inside Copilot, which is the real strategic question here.
  • — Whether a standalone MAI API with a free tier appears, rather than access only through Microsoft products.
  • — Voice and image MAI models, currently reachable mostly bundled inside Microsoft 365 apps.

Their ethics and safety policies

What Microsoft (MAI) has published about safety and ethics, the documents themselves, what those documents leave out — and my own read, kept separate.

Read Microsoft (MAI)'s ethics stance

Looking for which tool to actually use? See AI Models Compared