Athira Sethu
Kochi, 7 Feb 2026
The rivalry between OpenAI and Anthropic was upped this week as both companies released new AI models at the same time. Anthropic released its latest AI model, Claude Opus 4.6, while OpenAI released GPT 5.3 Codex on the same day. Indeed, both firms are fighting aggressively, mainly after Anthropic dissed OpenAI over the latter’s decision to add ads to ChatGPT.
On Thursday, a firm named Anthropic announced the launch of a revised form of its AI model, Claude Opus 4.6, which is intended to be utilized for various tasks such as office work and coding. The latest model has a wider “context window,” which implies it can read and process longer documents and work on complicated projects simultaneously. This is intended to make the AI model more efficient for users.
OpenAI, however, did not take long to respond to the challenge. They developed GPT-5.3-Codex, which is an AI designed to enhance coding capability. The new version is quicker and requires fewer computing processes in comparison to the older ones. Moreover, the new developed AI model is capable of developing complex software based on simple English instructions. The company also developed a new app to enhance interaction between users and the new Codex.
Podcast Discussion
Both Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, and Sholto Douglas, one of the top researchers at Anthropic, were guests, albeit separately, on the same “TBPN” podcast on Thursday. Altman discussed how humans might soon control “agents” that perform tasks autonomously. He explained that as his agents get smarter, they’ll be able to interact at a “higher level of thinking.”
Douglas described the difference between the AI models of these two companies. He said that OpenAI’s AI models are strong enough to tackle big problems, while Anthropic’s AI models, on the other hand, have speed. He said that while OpenAI aims to solve big problems, Anthropic aims at making AI work fast.
History of Competition
The competition started in 2021 when several OpenAI researchers moved out to form Anthropic. Their goal was safer and more controlled AI. Releases of the new models show the hard push both companies are giving to compete in the leadership of the AI field.
Anthropic’s Ads and Criticism of OpenAI
This week Anthropic has also rolled out ads making fun of OpenAI’s plan to add advertising in ChatGPT. In them, Claude Opus is positioned as ad-free, while OpenAI has plans to insert ads into free ChatGPT. Altman defended the plan by OpenAI; he asserted that ads would be clearly labelled, and they would not interfere with the answer given by AI.
As long as OpenAI and Anthropic are competing with one another, both will push the technology of AI to new limits. Yet, the growing debate over ads in AI services is likely to not end anytime soon.
