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<\/a><\/p>\nVerge subscribers, don\u2019t forget you get exclusive access to ad-free Decoder wherever you get your podcasts. Head here<\/a>. Not a subscriber? You can sign up here<\/a>.<\/p>\n So these last few weeks have felt like a very important inflection point, as both Anthropic and OpenAI have started to react to the reality of needing to go public \u2014 needing to make money,<\/p>\n The catalyst for this change is AI agents, and products like Claude Code and Cowork, as well as the open-source OpenClaw and OpenAI\u2019s Codex, have radically changed how these companies are thinking about their resources. And this is starting to affect how they behave \u2014 the products they support or suddenly kill, the restrictions they impose on customers, and the money they\u2019re willing to burn toward their next big milestone.<\/p>\n That\u2019s because agents are valuable to customers right now, but agents also use far more compute. So the way people are using agents is burning tokens at a rate way faster than these companies anticipated, and that\u2019s causing them to make hard decisions.<\/p>\n We saw this most evidently last month when OpenAI abruptly killed its video-generation app Sora<\/a>, ditching a $1 billion Disney licensing deal in the process. Why? It costs too much to run, and OpenAI needs the compute for Codex. We saw it again just last week, when Anthropic decided it would no longer let Claude users burn through compute resources using the OpenClaw agent framework through a standard subscription plan, instead forcing those users onto pay-as-you-go plans<\/a>, which cost substantially more.<\/p>\n As you\u2019ll hear Hayden explain here, these are glimmers of a make-or-break moment for the AI industry, as both Anthropic and OpenAI barrel toward two of the biggest IPOs in history. And the pressure on these companies to make money has never been this intense.<\/p>\n The projections these companies have made, which just this week were leaked to the Wall Street Journal<\/a>, tell a story of mind-boggling growth, to the tune of hundreds of billions in revenue and profitability by the end of the decade. But the most important questions now are can the AI companies pull this off, and what compromises will they make to reach that goal and avoid crashing and burning?<\/p>\n Okay: Verge senior policy reporter Hayden Field on the AI monetization cliff and the race to profitability. Here we go.<\/p>\n If you\u2019d like to read more about what we discussed in this episode, check out these links:<\/p>\n The vibes are off at OpenAI | The Verge<\/a>Anthropic essentially bans OpenClaw from Claude | The Verge<\/a>Why OpenAI killed Sora | The Verge<\/a>OpenAI just bought TBPN | The Verge<\/a>National poll shows voters like AI less than ICE | The Verge<\/a>The spiraling cost of making AI | WSJ<\/a>OpenAI\u2019s Fidji Simo taking leave amid exec shake-up | Wired<\/a>OpenAI raises another $122B at $850B valuation | The Verge<\/a><\/p>\n Questions or comments about this episode? Hit us up at decoder@theverge.com. We really do read every email!<\/p>\n Decoder with Nilay Patel<\/p>\n A podcast from The Verge about big ideas and other problems.<\/p>\n SUBSCRIBE NOW!<\/a>Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.Nilay PatelClose Nilay Patel<\/p>\n Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n FollowFollow<\/p>\n See All by Nilay Patel<\/a><\/p>\n AIClose<\/p>\n AI<\/p>\n Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n FollowFollow<\/p>\n See All AI<\/a><\/p>\n AnthropicClose<\/p>\n Anthropic<\/p>\n Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n FollowFollow<\/p>\n See All Anthropic<\/a><\/p>\n BusinessClose<\/p>\n Business<\/p>\n Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n FollowFollow<\/p>\n See All Business<\/a><\/p>\n DecoderClose<\/p>\n Decoder<\/p>\n Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n FollowFollow<\/p>\n See All Decoder<\/a><\/p>\n OpenAIClose<\/p>\n OpenAI<\/p>\n Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n FollowFollow<\/p>\n See All OpenAI<\/a><\/p>\n PodcastsClose<\/p>\n Podcasts<\/p>\n Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n FollowFollow<\/p>\n<\/p>\n