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Microsoft's relationship with OpenAI is becoming delicate and complicated.

On Tuesday, Microsoft added the artificial intelligence startup to its list of competitors in its latest annual report, a list that for years has included Microsoft's larger peers such as Amazon, Apple, Google and Meta.

Microsoft has a long-standing relationship with OpenAI, serving as its exclusive cloud provider and using its AI models in products for commercial clients and consumers. Microsoft is OpenAI’s largest investor, having poured $13 billion into the company.

But new developments suggest they are moving into each other's territory.

In the filing, Microsoft identified OpenAI, the creator of the ChatGPT chatbot, as a competitor for its artificial intelligence products as well as search and news advertising.Last week, OpenAI announced a prototype of a search engine called Search GPT.

Some companies choose to pay OpenAI to access its models, while others get them through Microsoft's Azure OpenAI service. For those seeking an alternative to ChatGPT, Microsoft's Copilot chatbot is also available through the Bing search engine and the Windows operating system.

A spokesperson for OpenAI said that nothing has changed between the two companies, and that their partnership was built on the premise that both sides would compete. "Microsoft remains a good partner for OpenAI."

Still, it was a year filled with drama.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was reportedly not briefed before OpenAI's board ousted CEO Sam Altman in November. After Altman's swift reinstatement, OpenAI gave Microsoft a non-voting board seat. Microsoft gave up the position earlier this month.

In March, Nadella brought in Mustafa Suleyman, co-founder of DeepMind, an AI research company that was founded before OpenAI and acquired by Google in 2014. Suleyman, who co-founded and led the startup Inflection AI, was named CEO of the new division, Microsoft AI, and was joined by several Inflection employees.

Nadella and Altman remain in close contact.

Nadella said in a recent media interview:

What I loved about Sam was that every day he would call me and say, I need more, I need more, I need more.