AI Agents: Who Controls the Infrastructure?

The enterprise AI landscape is transitioning from a focus on model competition to a strategic battle for control over agent orchestration infrastructure. Microsoft and OpenAI currently lead this emerging category, with Microsoft's Copilot Studio and Azure AI Studio at the forefront, showing substantial adoption in February 2026. OpenAI's Assistants and Responses API follow closely behind, indicating a steady increase in their platform usage.

Anthropic has recently entered the agent orchestration tracker, marking its initial measurable foothold with a modest percentage. This emergence is significant as it signifies Claude's move from the model layer into native orchestration, a critical distinction for enterprises deciding where AI work will be managed.

Security and governance have become paramount concerns, with buyers prioritizing control over agent execution and permissions. This shift from flexibility towards governance is driven by the increased operational capacity of agents, necessitating robust audit trails and security measures.

While Microsoft benefits from existing enterprise distribution, Anthropic's timing aligns with Claude's growing adoption at the model layer. This presents a potential path for Anthropic to become a trusted agent runtime for sensitive workloads, even if it doesn't immediately challenge Microsoft's default platform status.

Enterprises are wary of vendor lock-in, with a preference for hybrid control planes that combine different providers. The market is increasingly resembling cloud infrastructure, where vendors offering comprehensive solutions including identity, permissions, and auditability will likely lead. Anthropic's strategy of providing managed agent infrastructure is thus a key area to watch.