Microsoft Quietly Adopts Claude Code While Marketing GitHub Copilot

Microsoft has spent the past year aggressively promoting Copilot as the future of coding with AI. The company even brought Copilot Studio extensions to Visual Studio Code. Still, internal moves suggest Microsoft knows Copilot is not always the best tool for the job.

As The Verge reports, Microsoft now encourages thousands of employees, including non-developers, to use Claude Code for everyday coding tasks.

Microsoft expands Claude Code internally

Microsoft first adopted Anthropic’s Claude Sonnet models in mid-2025 and later favored them for paid GitHub Copilot users. The company has now rolled out Claude Code across major engineering teams.

Engineers inside Microsoft are expected to use both Claude Code and GitHub Copilot and submit direct feedback comparing the two tools. The goal is to evaluate strengths, weaknesses, and productivity gains across real-world workflows.

A shift toward a multi-tool AI strategy

Microsoft still markets GitHub Copilot as its flagship AI coding product. However, executives have not ruled out selling Claude Code more broadly if internal pilots succeed. Microsoft has already become one of Anthropic’s largest customers.

In an unusual move, Microsoft sales teams now receive Azure quota credit when selling Anthropic models. This signals how deeply Anthropic technology has entered Microsoft’s ecosystem.

Microsoft says OpenAI remains its primary AI partner, but Anthropic usage continues to grow inside Microsoft 365 and Copilot. However, Claude Code is certainly positioned as part of a broader, multi-tool AI approach rather than a replacement.

The shift allows even non-technical employees to generate and commit code using AI. Critics warn this trend could shrink junior developer roles and increase reliance on autonomous AI agents, reducing direct human oversight in production code.

Claude has also expanded into health app integrations recently. In other Microsoft news, the WinApp CLI just launched, aiming to simplify Windows app development.