Available in limited access, Claude models can be used as research agents or to build new ones.
Blake has over a decade of experience writing for the web, with a focus on mobile phones, where he covered the smartphone boom of the 2010s and the broader tech scene. When he’s not in front of a keyboard, you’ll most likely find him playing video games, watching horror flicks, or hunting down a good churro.
Microsoft announced on Wednesday that it is adding two of Anthropic’s AI models, Claude Sonnet 4 and Claude Opus 4.1, to its AI assistant, 365 Copilot. The Claude models won’t replace OpenAI’s ChatGPT for general chatbot inquiries but will be used for specific tasks.
Adding Claude will allow Copilot users to gain a different AI perspective than just using ChatGPT. Since models are trained with other datasets, their output can vary dramatically.
Claude Opus 4.1 will be added as an option within Copilot’s Researcher AI agents, alongside ChatGPT, and both Anthropic models can be used within Copilot Studio.
Copilot’s Researcher agents are reasoning agents that can work with the data you use daily, such as emails, meeting information and files, to help brainstorm new products and create advanced reports. Users can compare the efforts put forth by each model to see which one works best.
With Copilot Studio, users can build enterprise agents for their businesses using four different OpenAI models and the new Anthropic models.
Access to the new models is currently limited. 365 Copilot licensed customers can opt in through the Frontier Program to access Claude Opus 4.1 in Researcher agents. To build agents, users can opt in to try Claude in Copilot Studio. An organization’s admin can enable access within the Office 365 admin center.
