Microsoft is reportedly preparing to reduce the internal use of Anthropic’s Claude Code and move employees toward GitHub Copilot CLI, according to a report by The Verge.

The report said Microsoft had initially expanded access to Claude Code in December, allowing thousands of employees, including developers, project managers and designers, to experiment with AI-assisted coding workflows.

Over the past six months, Claude Code reportedly gained strong traction within the company. However, its growing adoption is now said to be creating challenges for Microsoft’s own developer AI products, particularly GitHub Copilot CLI.

According to The Verge, Microsoft is planning to remove most internal Claude Code licenses and encourage developers to transition to Copilot CLI, the command-line version of GitHub Copilot that works outside development environments such as Visual Studio Code.

Experiences + Devices team reportedly shifting away from Claude Code

The report said Microsoft’s Experiences + Devices division, which includes teams working on Windows, Microsoft 365, Outlook, Teams and Surface, is already winding down its usage of Claude Code.

Engineers in the division are reportedly being encouraged to move their workflows to Copilot CLI ahead of a planned cutoff later this year.

The Verge also reported that Microsoft has internally framed the move as part of an effort to standardise around Copilot CLI as its primary command-line AI coding tool. The report added that financial considerations may also be linked to the decision.

AI coding tools becoming a competitive battleground

The development highlights intensifying competition in the AI coding assistant market, where companies including Anthropic, OpenAI, Google and Microsoft are competing to position their coding tools as core enterprise products.

Microsoft has been expanding GitHub Copilot across its developer ecosystem, while Copilot CLI extends AI-assisted coding into terminal-based workflows.

The reported move does not indicate that Microsoft is ending its broader relationship with Anthropic. The Verge noted that Anthropic’s AI models would continue to remain accessible through Copilot CLI and Microsoft’s broader AI ecosystem.

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First Published on May 15, 2026, 13:10:24 IST