Microsoft is today making ChatGPT available in its own Azure OpenAI service. Developers and businesses can now integrate OpenAI’s ChatGPT model into their own cloud apps, enabling conversational AI in many more apps and services.

Businesses can use ChatGPT to power custom chatbots to handle customer queries, provide conversation summaries, help automate emails, and much more.

Microsoft says Azure OpenAI users can access a preview of ChatGPT today, priced at $0.002 for 1,000 tokens. Billing for all ChatGPT usage will begin March 13 as part of Azure OpenAI. Developers must request special access, as the Azure OpenAI service requires registration and is “currently only available to Microsoft-managed customers and partners.”

Microsoft’s cloud service also includes a number of other AI models from OpenAI, including GPT-3.5, Codex, and DALL-E. Microsoft combines tools like ChatGPT and DALL-E with data processing, management, and scaling in Azure. The software maker uses Azure OpenAI to power GitHub Copilot, Power BI, Microsoft Teams Premium, Viva Sales, and Microsoft’s new Bing chatbot.

Microsoft has a head start in the AI ​​race after the company bought an exclusive license to the underlying technology behind GPT-3 in 2020 following a $1 billion investment in OpenAI in 2019. It has since built a deep relationship with OpenAI and recently its partnership in a “multi-billion dollar investment” that makes Microsoft the exclusive cloud provider for OpenAI.

As startups and companies scramble to integrate AI features into their apps and services, rivals like Amazon are reportedly struggling to keep up. In the last Command line newsletter, Forget editor Alex Heath has heard that “AWS doesn’t have enough computing power to meet the demand from startups launching AI features.”

We’re about to find out if Microsoft has the capacity to meet the demand from companies rushing to integrate generative AI features. Microsoft is quickly commercializing OpenAI’s models and has integrated a next-generation technology version that powers ChatGPT into its Bing search engine and Edge browser.

The next phase of Microsoft’s AI push will be detailed next week. Microsoft is holding a special event where it plans to announce “the future of working with AI” and demonstrate how its ChatGPT-like AI will work in Office apps. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Head of Microsoft 365 Jared Spataro hold a event on March 16 at 8:00 AM PT / 11:00 AM ET.