OpenAI pulled in roughly $5.7 billion in first-quarter revenue, about $1 billion more than Anthropic's $4.8 billion, according to The Information. On the quarterly scoreboard, OpenAI wins. Read almost any other line and the story inverts.
The number that actually matters
A single quarter of revenue is a rear-view stat. Run-rate is what investors squint at, and Anthropic has moved in front. Its annualized figure reportedly sits near $45 billion against OpenAI's roughly $25 billion. Two caveats before anyone gets excited. The OpenAI figure dates to February, so a fresh Anthropic number is being stacked against a months-old rival one. And annualizing a single hot month is exactly the kind of arithmetic that flatters a startup mid-sprint.
The slope is still hard to argue with. Anthropic told investors to expect close to $11 billion in the second quarter, more than double its Q1. OpenAI hasn't put a Q2 number on the table. Researchers at Epoch AI had already modeled a crossover sometime in 2026 from the two growth curves, and the gap is closing faster than the cautious version of that forecast suggested.
Who is actually making money
Here the discomfort lands on the company most people picture when they hear "AI." OpenAI ran a negative 122% operating margin in Q1, which is the technical way of saying it spent about $1.22 to collect every dollar. Codex, enterprise deals, and early advertising tests inside ChatGPT are driving the top line, but none of it is plugging the hole yet.
Anthropic, by contrast, says it expects its first operating profit, somewhere around $600 million, in Q2. That claim deserves a raised eyebrow rather than applause. Tech critic Ed Zitron, who has spent months prying open AI accounting, argues in a scathing breakdown that the profit leans on temporarily discounted compute and some generous definitions. If he is even partly right, the "profitable" quarter is more of a staged photo than a turning point. Watch whether the figure survives an audit.
About those user numbers
ChatGPT's weekly active users averaged around 905 million in Q1, short of the 1 billion OpenAI had been chasing. Engagement stats like this get waved around as proof of dominance right until they flatten, and this one has flattened. Enormous reach, slowing conversion into the kind of revenue that outruns the cost of serving it.
So you get a strange reversal. The loudest name in the AI boom is burning cash faster than it can turn attention into a durable business, while the company long cast as the runner-up looks like it has the healthier model. Maybe.
What's next
Both labs are reportedly eyeing public listings as soon as late 2026. According to recent reporting, Anthropic's current raise carries a valuation up to $950 billion, edging past OpenAI's roughly $850 billion mark from March. The Q2 figures, due over the summer, are the next real test, since that is when Anthropic's profit claim either holds or it doesn't.
