OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and Microsoft Ship Major AI Releases

In early October 2026, OpenAI opened GPT-6 to 1.2 billion free users and added a GPT-6.1 Ultrafast tier, Anthropic released Sonnet 5.5 with roughly 75% lower execution costs, Google unveiled Gemini 4 Argon, and Microsoft shipped a coding model that runs locally on laptops. Competition is shifting from model capability to system efficiency.

• OpenAI opened GPT-6 to 1.2 billion free users
• Anthropic cut Sonnet 5.5 execution costs by ~75% and token prices 10x
• Google released Gemini 4 Argon after nearly 10 months of silence
• Microsoft shipped a coding model that runs locally on laptops