The big AI companies are going to see their margins disappear
The profitability of major AI companies is under threat as competition increases and pricing power diminishes. Companies like Anthropic and OpenAI are currently unprofitable and are pushing for metered usage pricing to sustain revenue. As AI models become commoditized, the landscape may shift significantly, impacting margins and exclusivity for US firms.
- ▪Anthropic and OpenAI are not currently profitable and rely on continued investment.
- ▪There is a growing trend towards metered usage pricing in the AI industry.
- ▪AI models are expected to become commoditized, reducing the pricing power of leading AI labs.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
(function() { let windowUrl = window.location.href; windowUrl = windowUrl.substring(windowUrl.indexOf('?') + 1); let messageElement = document.querySelector('.shareableMessage'); if (windowUrl && windowUrl.includes('code') && windowUrl.includes('expires')) { messageElement.style.display = 'block'; } })(); AI + ML The big AI companies are going to see their margins disappear AI will indeed eat the world – if your world involves software-size margins Thomas Claburn Thomas Claburn Published mon 18 May 2026 // 23:33 UTC OPINION The future of AI is unwritten, but the writing is on the wall – your margin is my opportunity.Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said as much more than a decade ago in support of the e-souk's low-price, low-margin sales strategy.
…
Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at theregister.
Discussion
0 commentsMore from theregister
