OpenAI and Anthropic Slash Prices as Chinese AI Models Win Customers
OpenAI and Anthropic are slashing prices on their flagship AI models as cost-conscious customers flee to cheaper alternatives from Chinese developers such as Moonshot and DeepSeek. OpenAI cuts prices for GPT-5.6 Luna, its "fastest and most affordable model," by 80 percent, while Anthropic launches Claude Opus 5, promising "frontier intelligence" at half the price of its most capable model, Fable 5. According to Silicon Data's token price index, the moves drive down prices for leading US models by nearly a quarter since mid-July.
The cuts mark a strategic shift for US labs, whose proprietary "closed" models have historically competed on performance rather than cost. Increasingly capable Chinese "open" models, which developers can freely download and modify, are intensifying the pressure on pricing. Companies including DoorDash and Airbnb say they have begun using Chinese-made models to rein in their AI bills, and some businesses are imposing usage caps or testing cheaper alternatives as OpenAI and Anthropic shift enterprise customers from flat subscriptions to usage-based billing.
The price war arrives at a delicate moment, as both OpenAI and Anthropic plot initial public offerings at trillion-dollar valuations while investors demand evidence that the industry's massive AI spending can generate returns. Chinese labs continue to narrow the performance gap with leading US models through a flurry of new releases, raising concerns within the US tech industry about American developers losing their competitive edge. For now, the battle for cost-conscious customers is translating into real savings for businesses that rely on AI at scale.