Microsoft launches Microsoft Decision 1, a small model for fast structured decisions, in Foundry
Introducing Microsoft-Decision-1, our new model for fast decision-making. It delivers top performance on structured decision tasks, outperforming both LLMs and other decision models in latency and quality. We’re already testing it across Microsoft for everything from incident response and quality control to scientific discovery.
Context
Instead of writing text, the model returns scored answers for choices, ratings and pass or fail checks, aiming to make routine AI decisions in apps and agents much faster and cheaper.
Satya Nadella announced the model on October 9. Microsoft Foundry is the company's platform for building with AI models and agents, and OpenRouter is a service that offers many models through one API. According to Windows Report, the model is built on Alibaba's Qwen3.5 9B with extra training for single pass decision scoring.
Deep dive
In his post, Nadella said Microsoft Decision 1 delivers top performance on structured decision tasks, beating both large language models and other decision models on latency and quality, and that Microsoft is already testing it internally for work ranging from incident response and quality control to scientific discovery.
According to coverage by Windows Report and Yahoo Tech, the model returns calibrated probabilities for multiple choice, rating and pass or fail decisions rather than generating text. It targets tasks such as classification, prioritization, grading AI responses and steering agent workflows. Yahoo Tech reports that across 36 blind benchmarks it ran about 4.5 times faster than its closest competitor and roughly 35 times faster than large models like GPT 6 Sol. These are Microsoft's own results, not independent tests.
Windows Report says the model is built on Qwen3.5 9B and that Microsoft plans to rebase it on other models, including its own MAI models and OpenAI models. Both outlets report it is available now in Microsoft Foundry, with OpenRouter support coming later, at $0.042 per million input tokens and free output tokens. As of October 9, it was not yet listed on OpenRouter's Microsoft page.
What to expect next
Watch for independent benchmarks, since the speed and quality claims so far come from Microsoft, and for the OpenRouter listing Microsoft says is coming.
Also watch the planned versions built on MAI and OpenAI models. A model this cheap could become a common building block inside agents for routing, grading and approvals, so adoption by developers in Foundry will show whether specialized decision models catch on.