I was a ChatGPT fanboy for a long time. Probably three years. I thought OpenAI did a better job productizing LLMs and bringing the capabilities to the public. They made AI approachable when approachable mattered.
Then Claude Code came on the scene, and it was obviously a step function change. I got behind that, and over time I realized Anthropic was getting it more than OpenAI. The gap has become more evident in the last few weeks.
I recently read a piece about how ChatGPT was heading toward the consumer while Anthropic was heading toward the enterprise. That framing resonates with what I'm seeing. OpenAI is building for everyone. Anthropic is building for people who want to get serious work done.
That distinction matters if you're trying to operationalize AI, not just use it casually.
The Enterprise Paradox
Here's the nuance: I still think ChatGPT is the right first step for most enterprises.
It's more approachable. More people know it. The learning curve is gentler. For organizations just getting started with AI, ChatGPT provides a great on-ramp to what's possible. It shows people the potential without overwhelming them.
But there's a ceiling. Once teams move past casual use and start building real workflows, the tooling needs to match the ambition. That's where products like Claude Code and Claude Cowork start to shine. Most people aren't ready for that level of power yet. But the ones who are will find more capability on the Anthropic side.
The Rest of the Landscape
I don't use Gemini much. Image generation is a hobby for me, not a commercial feature, so Google's multimodal strengths don't carry much weight in my work.
Perplexity sits on the fringes. It's useful for certain research tasks, but I haven't figured out where it fits in a real workflow. It's a tool I reach for occasionally, not one I build around.
Strong Opinions, Loosely Held
The landscape changes constantly. What's true today may not be true in six months. I've held strong opinions before and watched them become outdated as the technology evolved.
That's part of what makes this space interesting. You have to pay attention, stay curious, and be willing to change your mind when the evidence changes.
Three years ago, I would have told you OpenAI was the clear leader for serious work. Today, I'm finding myself on the Anthropic side. In another year, the picture might shift again.
The only real mistake is getting too attached to any particular view.