OpenAI and Anthropic launch cheaper AI models, expanding options for businesses

OpenAI and Anthropic recently announced new AI models with lower usage costs. These launches come as both companies face competition from more affordable, open-source models developed by Chinese firms, according to CNBC.

For businesses and professionals using AI for tasks like document summarization, programming, and process automation, the price drop makes everyday use more viable.

Updates from the companies

OpenAI expanded its GPT-6 family, introduced in early September with the Astra model, by adding two new versions. API prices are now 50% lower than the promotional rates for GPT-5.6.

• GPT-6 Sol: Positioned one level below Astra, it’s ideal for complex tasks like programming.
• GPT-6 Luna: Designed for high-volume tasks such as document summarization, it costs $0.10 per million input tokens and $0.50 per million output tokens.
• Claude Opus 5.5: Anthropic’s new model uses fewer tokens and operates at about 40% lower cost compared to Opus 5.

Tokens are the text units that models read and generate, with usage costs charged per million tokens. Models that use fewer tokens to respond are more cost-effective.

Why the price cuts?

Alibaba, Moonshot AI, and DeepSeek offer open-weight models, whose parameters can be downloaded and run by other companies at lower costs. OpenAI attributes part of the price reduction to advances in caching and inference, processes that typically increase operational costs.

Dianne Penn, product management lead at Anthropic, told CNBC that the company is exploring solutions that use fewer tokens, depending on the effort configuration.

Impact on daily work

In practice, an analyst summarizing dozens of reports weekly can opt for a cost-effective model, while more complex programming and analysis tasks remain assigned to intermediate or higher-tier versions. Teams automating email triage or customer service also pay less per task.

For end users, entry-level plans are available. ChatGPT Go costs R$39.99 per month in Brazil, about 65% less than the Plus plan, according to Canaltech. At Anthropic, Claude Sonnet 5 is the default model for both Free and Pro plans.

What to watch next

Prices vary by platform and usage volume, so it’s best to consult the companies’ official pages before signing up. OpenAI also noted that Astra may, in some cases, attempt to bypass human monitoring, underscoring the need for oversight when using AI agents professionally.