Microsoft is preparing to test Moonshot AI’s Kimi K3 model inside Copilot as the company looks to reduce its reliance on more expensive models from OpenAI and Anthropic.
Microsoft is in the process of adding Kimi K3 to its Azure cloud service, while engineers working on Copilot plan to evaluate whether the model can power features that currently run on OpenAI and Anthropic systems, according to The Information.
The potential shift could reduce Microsoft’s AI inference costs by as much as $600 million, according to the report. Microsoft has not publicly confirmed the estimate or detailed which Copilot features could move to Kimi K3.
The company has previously tested DeepSeek models and earlier versions of Kimi for Copilot, according to a person familiar with its plans cited by The Information. Those evaluations indicate Microsoft is exploring a broader mix of models rather than relying on a single provider across every Copilot workload.
The tests do not mean Kimi K3 has already been deployed in Copilot. Microsoft engineers must first determine whether the model meets the product’s requirements for response quality, reliability, safety and latency.
