Yes, but at the cost of freaking out Microsoft's customers who woke up Saturday wondering if the AI they use in their apps or the Copilot they've come to rely on in their work is going to still be there on Monday. Also, Microsoft's stock nose dived on Friday because the OpenAI board didn't have the foresight to fuck up after markets closed. I'm the meantime, Anthropic has been fielding calls from OpenAI/Microsoft customers like Snap looking to switch to get some stability, so much so that Amazon Web Services has set up a whole team to help Anthropic manage the crush of interest.

So yeah, maybe Microsoft comes out of this having acquires OpenAI for free. But not before shaking customer and investor confidence by being partnered with and betting the future of your company on a startup that it turns out was being run by impulsive teenagers. I highly doubt Microsoft made this move, but they are definitely making lemonade out of the lemons the self aggrandizing EA board threw at them.