OpenAI and Anthropic unveil cheaper AI models — CNBC
OpenAI and Anthropic have unveiled new cheaper artificial intelligence models: OpenAI released GPT-6 Sol and GPT-6 Luna, while Anthropic introduced Claude Opus 5.5. The releases came amid competition from developers of more affordable open-weight models, CNBC Top News reports.
New OpenAI models
GPT-6 Sol and GPT-6 Luna have become additional tiers in the GPT-6 lineup. According to OpenAI, API access prices were reduced by 50% compared with the promotional prices for GPT-5.6.
Sol is positioned one tier below Astra and is designed for more complex tasks, including programming. Luna is aimed at high-volume tasks, such as information extraction or document summarization.
More economical Claude Opus 5.5
Anthropic introduced Claude Opus 5.5, a new model in the Claude 5.5 family. The company said it uses tokens more efficiently and will cost about 40% less to operate than Claude Opus 5.
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Anthropic’s head of product management, research and labs, Dianna Penn, told CNBC that the company is working on a more efficient process for reasoning and generating responses so that, depending on model effort-level settings, fewer tokens are used.
These are the first releases from both labs after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called on the industry to slow the development of advanced AI systems amid intensifying debate over model safety. Former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon announced his resignation on X on September 8 and warned that both labs were “playing with our lives.” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Tesla and SpaceX head Elon Musk also joined Amodei’s call.
The companies are seeking to meet customer demand for more economical models and curb AI costs. They are also under pressure from developers of cheaper open-weight models, including China’s Alibaba, Moonshot AI and DeepSeek.
