Microsoft introduced Decision-1 for fast decision scoring
XORit Editorial · Sources, AI assistance and corrections
On October 9, 2026, Microsoft introduced the Microsoft-Decision-1 model for fast decision scoring. It is needed for routing, classification, prioritization, checking, and workflow management, rather than for generating text. The model is available in Microsoft Foundry and through OpenRouter.
Decision models are quickly becoming a separate category in AI. Language models write text or reason over complex tasks, while decision models produce a structured result that software can work with right away. When a decision or classification can be done cheaply and with high accuracy, many practical scenarios open up.
Reported results
By Microsoft's own measurements, Decision-1 showed the best accuracy in a comparison across 36 benchmarks: that is nearly 150 thousand questions hidden from the model's training. It outperformed both language models and other decision models. In terms of speed, the model turned out to be the fastest in Microsoft's tests, 2.5 times faster than the closest competitor H2O-Lightning-4B v1.1 and 35 times faster than GPT-6 Sol.
The model was built on a fine-tuned Qwen3.5-9B, which performs fast single-pass decision scoring; later Decision-1 will be ported to other bases, including Microsoft AI (MAI) and OpenAI. For a fixed set of options, it produces a calibrated probability for each, supports yes-or-no answers, selection from several options, and scoring on a scale, as well as rubric-based evaluation of AI responses and agent actions through a structured API call.
Why speed matters
Speed here is not important by itself. Each decision adds latency, and when steps depend on each other, they accumulate: an extra 100 milliseconds on each of 20 consecutive decisions adds two seconds to the overall process.
Jev benchmarks for accuracy and calibration were later added to the publication. Calibration shows how closely the model's confidence matches how often it turns out to be right: 100 means an exact match.
Translation editor: Салтанов А.
Source: commandline.microsoft.com ↗