A Microsoft logo is seen in Los Angeles, California U.S. November 7, 2017. Photo: Reuters
Microsoft will pay Harvard a licensing fee, a university spokesperson said in a statement, adding that the agreement was made through Harvard Health Publishing, the consumer health division of Harvard Medical School.
The agreement comes as part of the company's broader strategy to reduce its dependence on ChatGPT-maker OpenAI.
The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news earlier in the day, said the partnership will help enhance Microsoft's Copilot AI assistant with health-related content.
The latest version of Copilot, expected to launch as early as this month, will utilize content from Harvard Health Publishing to provide answers to user questions on medical and wellness topics, the university said.
Copilot has so far relied primarily on OpenAI's models to power tools across its productivity suite, including Word and Outlook.
Microsoft has recently begun integrating Anthropic's Claude and is also developing its own AI models, as it looks to diversify its artificial intelligence strategy.
