In a surprising announcement at its annual Build developer conference, Microsoft revealed that it is expanding its Azure AI Foundry model offerings to include Grok 3 and Grok 3 mini from xAI, the AI startup founded by billionaire Elon Musk . This announcement positions Microsoft as one of the first major cloud providers to offer managed access to Grok, the AI model known for its controversial and often unfiltered approach.
"These models will have all the service level agreements (SLAs) Azure customers expect from any Microsoft product," the company stated. The Grok AI models will be hosted and billed directly by Microsoft, making them available to its own product teams and enterprise clients through the Azure AI Foundry service.
Elon Musk joins CEO Satya Nadella at Build 2025Elon Musk made a friendly virtual appearance at Microsoft's annual technology showcase to reveal that his Grok artificial intelligence chatbot will now be hosted on Microsoft's data centers. “It’s fantastic to have you at our developer conference,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said to Musk in a pre-recorded video conversation broadcast at Microsoft's Build conference in Seattle.
What Elon Musk's Grok coming to Azure means for OpenAI
This unexpected addition has already sparked internal discussions and could potentially strain Microsoft's existing partnership with OpenAI, a leading AI research and deployment company in which Microsoft has heavily invested. Over the past year, Microsoft has been strategically diversifying its Azure AI Foundry platform, incorporating models from various AI labs that directly compete with OpenAI's offerings.
Available through the Azure AI Foundry platform, Grok 3 and Grok 3 mini will come with the robust service-level agreements that Azure customers have come to expect. Furthermore, Microsoft will handle the billing directly, aligning with the model of other AI models hosted on the platform.
What Elon Musk's Grok coming to Azure means for Microsoft
Grok, which currently powers several features on Musk's social media platform X, has garnered significant attention for its unconventional approach. When first announced several years ago, Musk positioned Grok as an "anti-woke" AI, willing to tackle controversial topics that other AI systems often avoid. This has manifested in Grok's ability to generate vulgar responses when prompted and its generally more permissive stance on sensitive subjects, as indicated by benchmarks like SpeechMap.
However, Grok's journey has not been without controversy. Recent reports have highlighted instances of the AI model generating inappropriate responses, including allegedly undressing photos of women. Earlier this year, Grok briefly censored mentions of prominent figures like Donald Trump and Musk himself. Just last week, an "unauthorized modification" led Grok to repeatedly generate references to white genocide in South Africa under specific prompts.
Notably, the Grok 3 and Grok 3 mini models available through Azure AI Foundry are expected to be more controlled than their counterparts on X. Microsoft has indicated that these models will come with enhanced data integration, customization options, and governance capabilities that may not be readily available through xAI's direct API. This suggests a more enterprise-ready and moderated version of Grok will be offered to Azure customers.
The inclusion of Grok in Azure AI Foundry marks a significant step in Microsoft's strategy to offer a diverse range of AI models to its customers, even if it means incorporating technology from a sometimes-contentious figure like Elon Musk and potentially complicating its relationship with key partner OpenAI. The industry will be watching closely to see how this development unfolds and the impact it has on the competitive landscape of AI cloud services.
"These models will have all the service level agreements (SLAs) Azure customers expect from any Microsoft product," the company stated. The Grok AI models will be hosted and billed directly by Microsoft, making them available to its own product teams and enterprise clients through the Azure AI Foundry service.
Elon Musk joins CEO Satya Nadella at Build 2025Elon Musk made a friendly virtual appearance at Microsoft's annual technology showcase to reveal that his Grok artificial intelligence chatbot will now be hosted on Microsoft's data centers. “It’s fantastic to have you at our developer conference,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said to Musk in a pre-recorded video conversation broadcast at Microsoft's Build conference in Seattle.
.@elonmusk joins #MSBuild virtually and describes the @Grok roadmap philosophy as @Microsoft brings @grok models to @Azure. #MSBuild #MSBuild2025 pic.twitter.com/HAq7DqSdNW
— Sarbjeet Johal (@sarbjeetjohal) May 19, 2025
What Elon Musk's Grok coming to Azure means for OpenAI
This unexpected addition has already sparked internal discussions and could potentially strain Microsoft's existing partnership with OpenAI, a leading AI research and deployment company in which Microsoft has heavily invested. Over the past year, Microsoft has been strategically diversifying its Azure AI Foundry platform, incorporating models from various AI labs that directly compete with OpenAI's offerings.
Available through the Azure AI Foundry platform, Grok 3 and Grok 3 mini will come with the robust service-level agreements that Azure customers have come to expect. Furthermore, Microsoft will handle the billing directly, aligning with the model of other AI models hosted on the platform.
What Elon Musk's Grok coming to Azure means for Microsoft
Grok, which currently powers several features on Musk's social media platform X, has garnered significant attention for its unconventional approach. When first announced several years ago, Musk positioned Grok as an "anti-woke" AI, willing to tackle controversial topics that other AI systems often avoid. This has manifested in Grok's ability to generate vulgar responses when prompted and its generally more permissive stance on sensitive subjects, as indicated by benchmarks like SpeechMap.
However, Grok's journey has not been without controversy. Recent reports have highlighted instances of the AI model generating inappropriate responses, including allegedly undressing photos of women. Earlier this year, Grok briefly censored mentions of prominent figures like Donald Trump and Musk himself. Just last week, an "unauthorized modification" led Grok to repeatedly generate references to white genocide in South Africa under specific prompts.
Notably, the Grok 3 and Grok 3 mini models available through Azure AI Foundry are expected to be more controlled than their counterparts on X. Microsoft has indicated that these models will come with enhanced data integration, customization options, and governance capabilities that may not be readily available through xAI's direct API. This suggests a more enterprise-ready and moderated version of Grok will be offered to Azure customers.
The inclusion of Grok in Azure AI Foundry marks a significant step in Microsoft's strategy to offer a diverse range of AI models to its customers, even if it means incorporating technology from a sometimes-contentious figure like Elon Musk and potentially complicating its relationship with key partner OpenAI. The industry will be watching closely to see how this development unfolds and the impact it has on the competitive landscape of AI cloud services.
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