OpenAI is considering slashing token prices for developers and enterprises, per the Wall Street Journal, in anticipation of similar cuts from Anthropic. The discussions come as both companies filed confidentially for IPOs this month, with neither having turned a profit. The pricing consideration follows OpenAI posting a -122% adjusted operating margin in Q1 2026 and ChatGPT's share of global generative AI web traffic falling from 77.6% in May 2025 to 53.7% by April 2026.
OpenAI Posts -122% Operating Margin as Market Share Declines
OpenAI posted a -122% adjusted operating margin in Q1 2026, meaning it lost $1.22 for every dollar it brought in, according to the Wall Street Journal. Sam Altman said at a recent event that "we'll have a lot of ways we can help people get more value for less spend," per the Wall Street Journal.
ChatGPT's share of global generative AI web traffic fell from 77.6% in May 2025 to 53.7% by April 2026, as previously reported by Decrypt. For the first time, more companies tracked by the Ramp AI Index are paying for Anthropic than for OpenAI.
Anthropic Revenue Reaches $47 Billion Annualized Run Rate
Anthropic's annualized run rate went from $9 billion at the end of 2025 to $47 billion by May 2026, a 422% jump in five months, driven almost entirely by Claude Code. Q2 2026 was the company's first profitable quarter ever.
OpenAI has since made its own coding tool, Codex, a company priority, but it is playing catch up.
Enterprise AI Spending Drives Tokenmaxxing Phenomenon
Uber's CTO burned through its entire 2026 AI budget by April. Some JP Morgan employees are spending more on AI use than their own salary, per the bank's chief data officer for its payments division.
Palantir CEO Alex Karp compared the practice to a porn addiction at AIPCon last week. JP Morgan analysts published a note this month titled "AI Bills Are Out of Control."
Tommy Shaughnessy of Delphi Ventures wrote in a widely shared X post this week that the $20/month flat fee rate was always priced below what heavy usage actually costs. Once a real business needs AI at scale, it moves to the API, paying per token, but consuming much more compute power.
Open-Source Inference Providers Serve DeepSeek at Fraction of Closed-Model Pricing
Open-source inference providers are scaling fast, with agentic tools being the catalyst for their growth. These platforms serve China's leading AI models like DeepSeek, GLM, MiMo, Kimi or Minimax, which compete with Claude Opus on coding benchmarks, at roughly one-thirteenth the price of the closed alternative.
"Chinese labs open source frontier-grade models," Shaughnessy wrote. "The model is the single biggest cost an inference provider has, and they get it for free." As long as that holds, the floor on intelligence pricing keeps falling toward zero.
The whole thesis breaks only if China goes closed-source, Shaughnessy noted, which would be bullish for the U.S. labs. So far, most of China's AI labs appear committed to the opposite approach.
FAQ
Why is OpenAI considering token price cuts?
OpenAI is considering token price cuts in anticipation of similar moves from Anthropic, according to the Wall Street Journal. The company posted a -122% adjusted operating margin in Q1 2026 and saw ChatGPT's market share fall from 77.6% to 53.7% between May 2025 and April 2026.
How much revenue does Anthropic generate?
Anthropic's annualized run rate reached $47 billion by May 2026, up from $9 billion at the end of 2025, representing a 422% increase in five months. Q2 2026 was the company's first profitable quarter ever.
What is the price difference between open-source and closed AI models?
Open-source inference providers serve models like DeepSeek at roughly one-thirteenth the price of closed alternatives like Claude Opus, according to Tommy Shaughnessy of Delphi Ventures. Chinese labs open source frontier-grade models, allowing inference providers to obtain the model at no cost.
