OpenAI weighs price cuts to compete with Anthropic: WSJ

OpenAI is weighing significant reductions to AI token pricing, the standard metric for artificial intelligence costs, as it battles to retain enterprise customers against rising competition from Anthropic, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. The San Francisco-based firm anticipates that its rival will also slash rates. It is positioning itself to capture price-sensitive clients before an anticipated industry-wide correction in service costs.

Chief Executive Sam Altman recently acknowledged that operational expenses represent "a huge issue" for the company. "I think we'll have a lot of ways we can help people get more value for less spend," Altman said. He signaled imminent adjustments to the company's commercial terms.

Margin Pressures

The Journal noted that aggressive discounting could squeeze profit margins further, as both firms already invest billions of dollars annually in the specialized computational infrastructure required to power large language models. Anthropic has accelerated its market advance following widespread adoption of Claude Code among software developers. The success has boosted revenues and propelled the startup's valuation past OpenAI's mark in private funding rounds.

In response, OpenAI has elevated its Codex programming assistant to strategic priority status in an effort to retain developer loyalty and counter Claude Code's momentum among technical users.

Enterprise Scrutiny

Enterprise customers have begun scrutinizing AI expenditures more closely, fueling debates in Silicon Valley over "tokenmaxxing," the practice of maximizing token usage to boost productivity even when returns remain unclear. An Uber executive disclosed earlier this year that the ride-sharing firm had already depleted its 2026 budget for autonomous AI agents. Other technology leaders have questioned whether efficiency gains from automated coding tools translate into measurable improvements for end-users.

Public Offering Plans

OpenAI confidentially submitted paperwork for an Initial Public Offering this week, shortly after Anthropic took similar steps toward a market debut. Altman informed staff that the company intends to complete its public listing "within the next year." The company cautioned that certain strategic objectives remain "likely easier as a private company," without elaborating on specific operational details.

Investors have long viewed the similarity of offerings between the two leading AI labs and the relative ease of customer switching as a significant risk factor for long-term revenue stability, even as both firms currently dominate sales of emerging artificial intelligence products.