All articles tagged with #token pricing
AI inference costs are falling at an unprecedented rate, but this deflation hides a stark divide between high-margin frontier labs and low-margin open-weight competitors. While average token prices have dropped over 50%, the underlying market structure remains stable with distinct profit tiers.
Anthropic released Claude Opus 5, a cheaper model designed to deliver near-Fable-level performance on many tasks, priced at $5 per million input tokens and $25 per million output tokens. Opus 5 becomes the default Claude Max model across paid plans, with Fable 5 reserved for the most complex tasks. It adds a compute-adjustment dial and mid-task model switching to control costs, illustrating a rapid, multi-tier approach to AI deployment.
Microsoft is winding down most Claude Code licenses for its Windows/Devices teams and directing engineers to GitHub Copilot CLI, a move framed as toolchain unification but driven by economics: token-based AI coding consumes far more compute and money than traditional licensing, a pattern echoed by Uber and Nvidia. The broader takeaway is a market shift from unlimited seats to usage-based, capped models, signaling that the era of “give every employee a Claude Code seat” is ending while AI coding remains valuable but finance-led budgeting will shape its deployment.