A once quiet rivalry between OpenAI and Anthropic is heating up

The gloves are coming off in the high-stakes rivalry between OpenAI and Anthropic as both companies race towards potential IPOs in 2026. OpenAI’s move to introduce ads into ChatGPT set off sniping between executives on both sides and a Super Bowl ad promising Anthropic will not have ads in its Claude chatbot. This tension traces back to a 2020 split over AI safety, but it has evolved into a brutal fight for the lucrative enterprise market where Anthropic’s Claude has seen success this year.