From CNBC · CJ Haddad · · 1m 30s
OpenAI and Anthropic cut AI model prices by half
Both labs launch cheaper models as they face competition from open-weight rivals and pressure to reduce customer costs.
In brief
Both labs launch cheaper models as they face competition from open-weight rivals and pressure to reduce customer costs. OpenAI and Anthropic released cheaper AI models on Tuesday, cutting prices by up to fifty percent to compete with open-weight alternatives and meet customer demand for cost-effective options…
OpenAI cuts prices on new models
OpenAI introduced GPT-6 Sol and GPT-6 Luna on Tuesday, slashing API prices by fifty percent compared with GPT-5.6 promotional pricing.
Sol and Luna serve different tasks
Sol handles complex workloads like coding. Luna is geared toward high-volume tasks such as extracting information or summarizing documents.
Anthropic unveils Claude Opus 5.5
Anthropic unveiled Claude Opus 5.5 on Tuesday, a more token-efficient version that will cost around forty percent less to run than Opus 5.
Efficiency gains reduce token use
Dianne Penn, head of product management, research and labs at Anthropic, said the company continues to innovate on making thinking and answering more efficient, using fewer tokens depending on effort setting.
“One of the things we're continuing to innovate on is how to make that thinking, how to make the answering more efficient, so it uses less tokens depending on your effort setting.”
Releases follow safety debate
These are the first releases from either lab since Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called for an industrywide slowdown on developing advanced AI as safety concerns intensified in recent weeks.
Competition from cheaper open-weight rivals
Both labs face stiff competition from companies offering cheaper open-weight models, including Chinese firms Alibaba, Moonshot AI and DeepSeek, driving the push for cost-effective options.
The short version
OpenAI and Anthropic released cheaper AI models on Tuesday, cutting prices by up to fifty percent to compete with open-weight alternatives and meet customer demand for cost-effective options.
