Anthropic Extends Free Fable Access 1 Week as OpenAI’s GPT-5.6 Threatens User Defections

3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jul 13

Anthropic kept consumer access to Fable free for another week, postponing a planned paid tier despite the model’s heavy computing costs.
OpenAI’s new GPT-5.6 drove the reversal: internal debate centered on fears that users would switch to a rival model some consider comparable or better.
The move highlights how AI companies are sacrificing near-term margins to win market share in a race tied to potentially trillion-dollar future valuations.
That pricing fight is sharpening a broader question for the industry: whether frontier AI can become highly profitable or is sliding toward a low-margin commodity business.

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