At the HumanX conference, everyone was talking about Claude

Source: TechCrunch

Claude dominates the conversation

The chatbot that came up most frequently was Claude. Anthropic received shout‑outs in many panels, and vendors I spoke with on the convention floor emphasized their reliance on Claude, while noted that ChatGPT was mentioned far less. One vendor even suggested that OpenAI’s offerings had “gone downhill,” echoing a broader sentiment circulating online.

OpenAI’s perception challenges

Recent developments have fueled doubts about OpenAI’s direction:

• A $122 billion funding round and an upcoming IPO have not quelled concerns that the company is losing its footing.
• Last month OpenAI abandoned several side projects, including the AI video generator Sora and a planned “sexy” version of ChatGPT, refocusing on business and coding services.
• A New Yorker profile questioned CEO Sam Altman’s trustworthiness, generating additional negative buzz.
• Partnerships with the Trump administration and the decision to inject advertising into ChatGPT have also drawn criticism.

During a HumanX discussion, Sierra co‑founder and OpenAI board chair Bret Taylor defended Altman, describing him as “one of the most visible leaders and executives in the world” and emphasizing his remarkable leadership.

Competition with Anthropic

While OpenAI faces scrutiny, it remains a major player alongside Anthropic. Data suggests Anthropic is gaining traction among business users, and a Wall Street Journal analysis highlighted both companies as “the fastest‑growing businesses in the history of tech.” In this context, the notion of OpenAI “falling off” may simply reflect the emergence of strong competition rather than a decline in performance.

OpenAI’s new subscription tier

To reinforce its market position, OpenAI announced a $100/month subscription tier for ChatGPT, offering substantially more access to Codex, its coding tool. The move appears aimed at encouraging broader use of the platform and drawing users away from Claude Code.

Rapid evolution of agentic AI

In a HumanX interview, Bloomberg reporter Rachel Metz spoke with OpenAI CTO of B2B applications Srinivas Narayanan, who highlighted the speed of change in the field:

“We are in this incredible moment in technology, where every month, and sometimes every day, we are all looking forward to something new.”
“We knew AI was going to impact software engineering… but even in just the last few months, the entire field has changed.”

Agentic AI is currently a major focus for the tech community, as companies offload more work to automated assistants. The landscape remains unpredictable, leaving the future wide open.