OpenAI distributed an internal memo this week attacking its direct rival Anthropic, accusing it of overstating its $30 billion in revenue by nearly $8 billion as Claude’s hold on the AI business becomes more difficult for the company to dislodge.
Summary
- OpenAI’s chief revenue officer Denise Dresser sent a four-page memo to employees accusing Anthropic of overstating its performance in calculating the gross revenue of cloud deals with Google and Amazon.
- The memo describes Anthropic’s strategy as built on “fear, obstructionism, and the idea that a small elite group should control AI,” and labels its countermeasures as a misstep.
- Anthropic’s annual revenue surpassed $30 billion by its calculations, up from $9 billion by the end of 2025, as Claude described as “become a cult” among business users at a major AI conference.
OpenAI CEO Denise Dresser sent a four-page internal memo to employees last Sunday attacking rival Anthropic, accusing it of raising its widely reported $30 billion valuation by roughly $8 billion. The memo, reported by CNBC and The Verge, alleges that Anthropic “monetized” sharing revenue from its cloud partnerships with Amazon and Google rather than reporting the full statistics, which OpenAI does through its Microsoft program.
The allegations put Anthropic’s actual figure closer to $22 billion, which would put it behind OpenAI’s reported running average of $24 billion. Both companies are preparing for potential IPOs and are competing fiercely for business contracts and placement investors.
Dresser goes well beyond accounting to note. He describes Anthropic’s strategy as being built on “fear, obstructionism, and the idea that a small elite group should control AI,” which he contrasts with what he calls the “positive message” of OpenAI. He also calls Anthropic’s computing strategy a “misstep,” noting that OpenAI is targeting 30 gigawatts of computing by 2030 while Anthropic projects only 7 to 8 gigawatts by the end of 2027.
Anthropic announced a deal with Google and Broadcom earlier this month for “multiple gigawatts” of computing. OpenAI itself is also in the midst of a pivot, turning to Amazon after admitting that its partnership with Microsoft “reduced our ability” to reach business customers on cloud platforms.
Claude Mania and Corporate Warfare
The severity of the memo reflects a real competitive problem for OpenAI. At the HumanX conference in San Francisco last week, business sentiment was in Anthropic’s favor. Arvind Jain, CEO of AI start-up Glean, described the phenomenon clearly. “It’s become a religion, that’s the extent of that mania,” he said of Claude’s entry into corporate operations.
Anthropic’s momentum came mainly from Claude Mythos and its coding tools, which drove a revenue increase from $9 billion to $30 billion in less than a year. Both labs are also racing to build competing AI cybersecurity products, with OpenAI finalizing a security tool for limited partner release while Anthropic runs its tightly controlled Project Glasswing campaign.
What It Means About AI Racing
OpenAI is valued at more than $850 billion following a fundraising in March. Anthropic was valued at $380 billion in its latest round. Both companies are heading into IPO windows with very different stories to tell investors about their business case.
The memo is notable because confident market leaders typically do not challenge competitors’ accounting in writing. It shows that Anthropic’s benefits are felt within OpenAI in a way that a memo to staff alone cannot address.
