Microsoft AI Launches a Family of Seven In-House MAI Models, Available on OpenRouter

Microsoft AI·medium signal

Microsoft AI announced seven new in-house MAI models, including an Excel-tuned variant that reportedly matches GPT-5.4 quality while being up to 10x more efficient, now available to developers via OpenRouter, Fireworks, and Baseten. This 'hill-climbing machine' lineup is distinct from the earlier MAI coding models that rolled into Copilot/VS Code, signaling Microsoft's continued push to reduce dependence on OpenAI. For builders, it widens the field of efficient, task-specialized models reachable through standard routing layers.