OpenAI and Anthropic in price war as Chinese AI rivals gain ground

OpenAI and Anthropic have launched new price cuts and cheaper model tiers as they compete for customers turning to lower-cost alternatives from Chinese AI labs. The article says OpenAI slashed prices for GPT-5.6 Luna, its “fastest and most affordable” model, by 80%. Anthropic introduced Claude Opus 5, marketed as “frontier intelligence” at half the price of its Fable 5 model. Silicon Data’s token price index estimates average costs for leading US models have fallen by nearly a quarter since mid-July. The shift reflects rising AI bills, more usage-based billing at enterprises, and growing pressure from more capable “open” models from Chinese developers.