Conventional wisdom says Microsoft Corp. is the big winner in the recent OpenAI saga. We don’t quite see it that way.

Both Microsoft and OpenAI are in a worse position today than last Thursday, prior to the firing of OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman and the ongoing public drama that ensued. Microsoft and OpenAI had a huge lead in market momentum, artificial intelligence adoption and feature acceleration, and were setting the narrative in AI.

Our discussions with customers and industry insiders leads us to conclude that the duo has put its substantial lead at risk. Although Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is making lemonade from lemons, the window was just cracked open for the competition and it’s more clear than ever that one large language model will not rule them all.