Anthropic cuts Claude Opus prices

Anthropic released Claude Opus five point five, performing at the level of its flagship Fable five point one model but costing around forty percent less to run than Opus five.

OpenAI launches cheaper GPT-6 versions

OpenAI released GPT-six Sol and GPT-six Luna, offshoots of its flagship GPT-six Astra model, with API costs fifty percent lower than its current Astra promotion pricing.

Releases came within hours

Both companies debuted their cheaper models within hours of each other, signalling their heated rivalry despite recent calls from both for an AI slowdown.

Price war threatens profits

Ara Kharazian, lead economist at Ramp, said OpenAI and Anthropic are engaged in a price war driving down AI prices and their ability to profit from models.

“OpenAI and Anthropic are engaged in a price war that is driving down the price of AI and therefore driving down their ability to profit from it”

Cheaper models target everyday work

The real business fight may be gaining everyday customers, not offering the most powerful models. Many businesses are tightening AI budgets and demanding better return on investment.

CFOs scrutinize AI spending

Randall Hunt, CTO at Caylent, said CFOs have seen sticker shock and promised gains haven't materialised, so they're optimising costs for planning in twenty twenty-seven and beyond.

“CFOs have seen some of the sticker shock, and they haven't seen some of the gains that were promised in the initial investments”

Cost per task becomes metric

Caylent calculates how long employees take to complete tasks with AI tools, then determines cost per task, an approach OpenAI encouraged in a mid-July twenty twenty-six blog post.