Microsoft is reportedly preparing to host Grok, the AI model developed by Elon Musk's startup xAI, according to a new report from The Verge, which cited a source familiar with the matter.

Discussions have been ongoing between Microsoft and xAI, with the goal of integrating Grok into Azure AI Foundry, the platform Microsoft offers developers to deploy, manage, and scale AI models. This would make Grok accessible to Azure customers and Microsoft's internal product teams.

Both Microsoft and xAI have yet to respond to requests for comment from Reuters.

The move comes amid increasing tension between Elon Musk and OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, which Musk co-founded but left in 2018. Musk sued OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, last year, accusing them of straying from their mission to build AI for the good of humanity. OpenAI responded by filing a countersuit against Musk in March.

According to The Verge, Microsoft's involvement is expected to be limited to providing infrastructure to host the Grok model, not to train it. It's still unclear whether Microsoft's deal will be exclusive, or if other cloud providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS) will also be allowed to host Grok.

This potential collaboration is part of Microsoft's broader strategy to diversify its AI ecosystem. The company has been testing AI models from Meta, xAI, and China's DeepSeek, reportedly looking for alternatives to OpenAI to power its Copilot AI assistant.

In fact, Microsoft recently made DeepSeek's R1 model available on Azure and GitHub, following a spike in its developer popularity.