On 7 October, OpenAI and Anthropic both announced news you'll notice straight away. ChatGPT now runs on GPT-6 for everyone, including the free version. Anthropic released Claude Haiku 5.5, a small model that is 90% cheaper per token than its predecessor. Here is what you need to know.
GPT-6 for all ChatGPT users
OpenAI began the global rollout of GPT-6 in ChatGPT on 7 October, reports Unite.AI. Plus, Pro, Business and Enterprise received it first, with GPT-6 Sol. Since 8 October, Free and Go users also have it, with the lighter GPT-6 Luna. According to OpenAI, both models are tuned for everyday conversations. The models in the Work environment and in Codex are not changing.
New is Intelligent UI. ChatGPT can use it to answer with charts, buttons, forms and interactive diagrams instead of just text. OpenAI also reports that GPT-6 Instant begins responding to questions involving web search on average 44% faster than GPT-5.6 Instant. These figures come from OpenAI itself.
What does this mean for your work?
- An interactive chart or calculation aid looks reliable, but it is still generated by a language model. Check the figures behind it as critically as you would any text, especially in quotes, budgets or client advice.
- Are colleagues using the free version for work? They are now working with a stronger model, but the privacy terms remain those of the consumer version. At /chatgpt/ and /veiligheid/ you can read, per subscription, what happens to your input.
- If you use Business or Enterprise, ask your administrator when GPT-6 will be enabled for your organisation.
Claude Haiku 5.5: 90% cheaper per token
Anthropic released Claude Haiku 5.5 on 7 October. For requests up to 100,000 tokens, you pay $0.10 per million input tokens and $0.50 per million output tokens. Haiku 4.5 cost $1 and $5. Above 100,000 tokens, the price rises to $0.50 and $2.50.
That 90% is the discount per token. Because the new model handles tokens differently, Anthropic itself estimates that your work will in practice be about 75% cheaper than on Haiku 4.5. According to VentureBeat, GPT-6 Luna charges the same rates below its own threshold. The two small models are therefore equal in price.
Haiku 5.5 is available through Anthropic's API (`claude-haiku-5-5`) and through AWS, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure. The last is handy if your organisation already has a contract with one of those cloud providers. Do check, however, which regions the model is available in on each platform and where your data is then processed.
A note for IT teams: Haiku 5.5 has stricter cybersecurity rules than Haiku 4.5 and blocks penetration testing by default.
If you have AI handle a lot of repetitive work, such as in customer service, e-commerce or software development, switching can make a considerable difference to costs. Do test it on your own tasks first: a small model is cheap, but not always good enough. You can read how Claude handles your data at /claude/. Compare prices and scores for all models at /modellen/.
In brief
- ChatGPT now uses GPT-6 for everyone: Sol for paid subscriptions, Luna for Free and Go.
- Intelligent UI gives answers with charts and buttons. Check these just as carefully as text.
- Claude Haiku 5.5 costs $0.10 / $0.50 per million tokens. According to Anthropic, that is in practice about 75% cheaper than Haiku 4.5.