Asia Tech Wire (Oct 18) -- Microsoft has confirmed that it will stop offering Azure OpenAI services to individual users in China.

Recently there has been a sudden rumor circulating on the Chinese Internet that Microsoft Azure OpenAI will discontinue its services for individual developers.

A number of developers have also posted on the Internet that they have received official emails about the discontinuation.

Azure OpenAI was the only channel in mainland China where developers could legally use OpenAI technology after OpenAI announced it was discontinuing API services for China.

Microsoft responded in the affirmative on Friday, emphasizing that it would only affect non-business users in mainland China, and that business users would continue to be able to use the service.