Washington DC, April 28 -- Microsoft and OpenAI have announced a sweeping overhaul of their partnership, easing exclusivity clauses and allowing the ChatGPT maker to expand its presence across rival cloud platforms.

In a blog post, Microsoft said the revised deal is designed to bring "flexibility, certainty and a focus on delivering the benefits of AI broadly," adding that the updated terms would strengthen their joint ability to build and operate AI platforms while allowing both firms to pursue new opportunities.

Under the new agreement, Microsoft will remain OpenAI's primary cloud partner, with OpenAI products continuing to launch first on Microsoft Azure unless the company chooses not to support specific capabilities. At the same tim...