Sam Altman signals OpenAI price war as rivalry with Anthropic, China heats up

Lead

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has signalled that the company is prepared to slash the price of its latest artificial intelligence models, as competition intensifies with US rival Anthropic and a growing wave of cheaper, rapidly advancing Chinese alternatives, according to the South China Morning Post.

In a social media post on Tuesday, Altman noted that OpenAI's flagship GPT-5.6 Sol was already "half the price" of Anthropic's Claude Fable 5, adding that OpenAI would be "happy to deliver at one-quarter of the price," as reported by the South China Morning Post.

Coverage Comparison

A South China Morning Post report focuses on the competitive and pricing pressure facing OpenAI, highlighting Altman's remarks and the pricing of both OpenAI's and Anthropic's models. Another South China Morning Post article delves into the details of OpenAI's GPT-5.6 release, presenting the three-model lineup and its implications for the industry's shift toward cost efficiency.

In contrast, Dawn's coverage emphasizes China's growing presence in the AI race, particularly the capabilities of Z.ai's GLM-5.2 model and the global demand for Chinese AI models, which has been fueled partly by US regulation. Dawn's analysis is analytical and slightly optimistic, describing GLM-5.2 as a potential "mini DeepSeek moment."

Key Claims

• OpenAI's pricing strategy: The South China Morning Post reports that OpenAI released GPT-5.6 Sol last week with pricing set at US$5 per million input tokens and US$30 per million output tokens. Altman's remarks signal a willingness to cut prices further, potentially to one-quarter of Anthropic's pricing.

• Anthropic's pricing: Anthropic's Fable 5, the consumer version of its Mythos 5 model, is priced at US$10 per million input tokens and US$50 per million output tokens, according to the South China Morning Post.

• GPT-5.6 model lineup: The South China Morning Post details that the GPT-5.6 release includes three models: Sol, Terra, and Luna. Terra is priced at US$2.50 per million input tokens and US$15 per million output tokens, while Luna is priced at US$1 and US$6, respectively. Terra is said to deliver performance comparable to its predecessor, GPT-5.5, at roughly half the price.

• Chinese competition: Chinese AI developers have been driving down the cost of frontier models, according to both the South China Morning Post and Dawn. Zhipu AI's GLM-5.2 is priced at about US$1.40 per million input tokens and US$4.40 per million output tokens, while DeepSeek V4 is priced at up to US$0.44 and US$0.87, respectively, as reported by the South China Morning Post.

• GLM-5.2 capabilities: Dawn reports that GLM-5.2, launched by Beijing-based startup Z.ai, has capabilities that almost rival leading US offerings at a fraction of the cost, particularly in coding and agent capabilities. It has climbed the usage charts on platforms like OpenRouter, ranking above Anthropic's models, and has been praised by executives such as Snowflake's CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen.

• Global demand for Chinese models: Dawn attributes increased global demand for Chinese AI models to US regulation, which has been described as "unpredictable." The delayed public rollout of OpenAI's GPT-5.6 and curbs on Anthropic models have fueled this demand, according to experts cited by Dawn.

• Open-source development: Dawn notes that open-source development is becoming more popular due to the rising costs of using AI, though the article provides limited detail on this trend.

Perspectives

OpenAI: Sam Altman's remarks, as reported by the South China Morning Post, frame OpenAI as ready to compete aggressively on price, emphasizing the company's willingness to undercut rivals while maintaining quality.

Dawn's analysis: The outlet presents a perspective that highlights China's technological progress and the potential for open-weight models like GLM-5.2 to close the gap with US offerings, while warning that US regulation could hamper American competitiveness. This viewpoint is supported by quotes from figures like David Sacks.

Industry experts: The South China Morning Post quotes Li Yitao, co-founder of Canada-based AI start-up Quotaflow, who sees the GPT-5.6 release as part of a broader industry shift toward cost-efficient AI systems for enterprise use.