The IPO Math Forces the Issue
Both OpenAI and Anthropic are on IPO timelines for the second half of 2026. OpenAI completed the largest private funding round in history in April, $122 billion at an $852 billion post-money valuation. Anthropic has reportedly surpassed $30 billion in annualized revenue. Massive numbers, both of them. Also both attached to companies that are still burning cash at extraordinary rates.
Public markets will not tolerate the gap between subscription revenue and compute cost that has defined the past three years. The moment either company files, analysts will demand unit economics that show a path to margin. Usage-based billing is the fastest way to demonstrate that path.
None of this contradicts the repricing thesis. The pricing war is the last land grab before the gate closes. Both companies are spending aggressively now to lock in users whose switching costs will make them sticky when prices rise. OpenAI offers two months free. Anthropic offers 50% more capacity. Both expire in July. What comes after July is the real pricing.
The real pricing will come when companies can't go back to regular workers, as predicted here: https://feddit.org/post/30017257
Apparently that post is gone?
The point was that prices will rise when companies are dependent on AI to the point that the owners don't have money to pay for their AI girlfriends.
The title was "they're ransoming my Al girlfriend back to me at exorbitant prices". But it's not only AI girlfriends. Once AI runs the company, the regular AI can also demand ransom prices.