Thousands of tech professionals gathered at San Francisco’s Moscone Center this week for the HumanX AI conference, where conversations centered on how agentic AI is transforming business operations. These automated systems, which handle coding and other tasks, are seeing widespread adoption through enterprise and consumer chatbots. Amid the buzz, one name surfaced repeatedly in discussions: Claude, the chatbot from Anthropic.
Throughout the event, panelists frequently highlighted Anthropic’s work, and vendors on the exhibition floor echoed this sentiment. In contrast, mentions of ChatGPT were notably scarce. One vendor explicitly stated that his team relies heavily on Claude, expressing a view that ChatGPT and OpenAI have “gone downhill”—a sentiment echoing online critiques that the company has “fell off.”
This perception persists despite OpenAI’s recent $122 billion funding round and its upcoming IPO. Observers question whether the company has lost its direction or appears uncertain about its next moves. A key issue seems to be a lack of focus; last month, OpenAI shelved several long-running projects, including its AI video generator Sora and a plan for a “sexy” version of ChatGPT, opting instead to concentrate on business and coding services.
Further compounding OpenAI’s challenges, a recent New Yorker article cast doubt on the trustworthiness of CEO Sam Altman, generating negative publicity. The company’s collaborations with the Trump administration and its decision to introduce ads into ChatGPT have also drawn criticism. These controversies contribute to an image of OpenAI as reactive rather than strategically driven, seemingly responding to events rather than shaping them.
During a HumanX panel, Bret Taylor, co-founder and CEO of Sierra and chairman of OpenAI’s board, defended Altman when questioned by Alex Heath about the New Yorker profile. “I think Sam is one of the most visible leaders and executives in the world,” Taylor said. “If you want to seek out detractors for him, you’ll find them, and they’ll be very vocal about it. I think Sam’s remarkable. I think he’s a remarkable leader of AI, and I really trust his character as someone who’s worked with him.”
Despite these headwinds, OpenAI and Anthropic remain closely matched in terms of market presence and revenue. Data indicates that Anthropic is gaining traction among business users, with The Wall Street Journal analyzing their finances and noting that both companies are “the fastest-growing businesses in the history of tech.” In this context, OpenAI’s perceived decline may simply reflect increased competition rather than a fundamental failure.
OpenAI is actively working to maintain its dominance. This week, the company unveiled a new $100 subscription tier for ChatGPT, offering enhanced access to Codex, its coding tool. This move appears aimed at expanding tool usage and potentially luring users away from Claude Code. During a HumanX discussion with Bloomberg reporter Rachel Metz, Srinivas Narayanan, OpenAI’s CTO of B2B applications, commented on the rapid pace of technological change.
“We are in this incredible moment in technology, where every month, and sometimes every day, we are all looking forward to something new,” Narayanan said. He cited agentic coding as an example, adding, “We knew AI was going to impact software engineering, people have been using assistive coding over the last year, but even in just the last few months, the entire field has changed.”
Agentic achievements currently captivate the tech community, as other AI applications, such as creative uses, have yet to fully materialize. The speed at which companies are delegating work to automated assistants is striking, with Narayanan noting that this shift has occurred remarkably quickly. In such a volatile landscape, the future remains wide open, with both OpenAI and Anthropic vying for leadership in an unpredictable market.
