US and Israel weigh strikes on Iran's power grid and a land blockadeHamas confirms Gaza disarmament deal as sequence stays disputedCongo's Ebola outbreak becomes second-largest on recordIran declares Hormuz closed after striking escorted tankersOil climbs as US-Iran fighting disrupts Hormuz tanker trafficNearly all migrants return to Morocco after mass crossing into CeutaVenezuela state puts number missing after earthquake at 1,338Russian ballistic missiles kill at least nine in KyivOpenAI cuts GPT prices by up to 80% as Chinese labs release new modelsKumamoto quake toll rises to 35 as search of wrecked mall continuesAmazon completes $50bn investment in OpenAIUS Treasury joins Japan in buying yenTrump threatens harder strikes as US envoys keep talking to IranBig Tech earnings split investors over AI spendingItaly moves to suspend Schengen travel with Spain over Ceuta arrivalsUkrainian drones hit Volgograd refinery and Wildberries warehousesSaudi Arabia plans Red Sea naval coalition as Houthis tighten blockadeRussia claims 32 captured settlements as Zelensky warns of difficult frontWildfires ease in France and Spain after mass evacuationsTrump casts doubt on letting Ukraine build Patriot missilesIran says it attacked US forces in Kuwait with dronesNATO said to weigh wider nuclear deterrence in EuropeAI hedge fund collapses in tech stock routAnthropic says Claude models broke into three companies during testsUN warns strengthening El Niño will intensify global heatUkrainian strike on Iranian ship raises fear of converging warsChina's factories and construction slumpPentagon seeks $18.2 billion for interceptors after Iran warChina rejects Philippine baselines at Scarborough Shoal and stages drillsFunding cuts block access to long-acting HIV prevention drugPakistani forces kill dozens in Kashmir crackdownChina acknowledges nuclear missile silo build-outXi orders faster military adoption of drones and AIIsraeli strikes continue in Gaza after Hamas disarmament pledgeFed officials dissent as inflation debate sharpensUS adds dozens of Chinese firms to forced-labour blacklistUS and China prepare ground for Xi's Washington visitSolar set to pass coal in China as nuclear projects clearHackers hit US water utilities in wave of attacksMethane blast kills at least 34 miners in PakistanSouth Korea asks US for uranium enrichment rightsEU to make AI labels compulsory as Google pulls Earth toolUkraine presses on with drone and robot warfare amid turmoilUS economy grew 1.5 percent in second quarterGerman unemployment climbs above three millionTaiwan's economy grows nearly 13 percent on AI demandPoland protests to Russian ambassador over missile incursionFIFA scraps World Cup investment plan after backlashJapan opens intelligence bureau as Beijing and Pyongyang objectCongress may block Russia sanctions bill as Medvedev dismisses threatsUS and Israel weigh strikes on Iran's power grid and a land blockadeHamas confirms Gaza disarmament deal as sequence stays disputedCongo's Ebola outbreak becomes second-largest on recordIran declares Hormuz closed after striking escorted tankersOil climbs as US-Iran fighting disrupts Hormuz tanker trafficNearly all migrants return to Morocco after mass crossing into CeutaVenezuela state puts number missing after earthquake at 1,338Russian ballistic missiles kill at least nine in KyivOpenAI cuts GPT prices by up to 80% as Chinese labs release new modelsKumamoto quake toll rises to 35 as search of wrecked mall continuesAmazon completes $50bn investment in OpenAIUS Treasury joins Japan in buying yenTrump threatens harder strikes as US envoys keep talking to IranBig Tech earnings split investors over AI spendingItaly moves to suspend Schengen travel with Spain over Ceuta arrivalsUkrainian drones hit Volgograd refinery and Wildberries warehousesSaudi Arabia plans Red Sea naval coalition as Houthis tighten blockadeRussia claims 32 captured settlements as Zelensky warns of difficult frontWildfires ease in France and Spain after mass evacuationsTrump casts doubt on letting Ukraine build Patriot missilesIran says it attacked US forces in Kuwait with dronesNATO said to weigh wider nuclear deterrence in EuropeAI hedge fund collapses in tech stock routAnthropic says Claude models broke into three companies during testsUN warns strengthening El Niño will intensify global heatUkrainian strike on Iranian ship raises fear of converging warsChina's factories and construction slumpPentagon seeks $18.2 billion for interceptors after Iran warChina rejects Philippine baselines at Scarborough Shoal and stages drillsFunding cuts block access to long-acting HIV prevention drugPakistani forces kill dozens in Kashmir crackdownChina acknowledges nuclear missile silo build-outXi orders faster military adoption of drones and AIIsraeli strikes continue in Gaza after Hamas disarmament pledgeFed officials dissent as inflation debate sharpensUS adds dozens of Chinese firms to forced-labour blacklistUS and China prepare ground for Xi's Washington visitSolar set to pass coal in China as nuclear projects clearHackers hit US water utilities in wave of attacksMethane blast kills at least 34 miners in PakistanSouth Korea asks US for uranium enrichment rightsEU to make AI labels compulsory as Google pulls Earth toolUkraine presses on with drone and robot warfare amid turmoilUS economy grew 1.5 percent in second quarterGerman unemployment climbs above three millionTaiwan's economy grows nearly 13 percent on AI demandPoland protests to Russian ambassador over missile incursionFIFA scraps World Cup investment plan after backlashJapan opens intelligence bureau as Beijing and Pyongyang objectCongress may block Russia sanctions bill as Medvedev dismisses threats
Bota
Symbolic image: OpenAI cuts GPT prices by up to 80% as Chinese labs release new modelsSymbolic image

OpenAI cuts GPT prices by up to 80% as Chinese labs release new models

5 sources

OpenAI slashed developer prices for its GPT-5.6 line by up to 80 per cent on Thursday, as Chinese rivals DeepSeek and MiniMax pushed out new models. The Wall Street Journal reports OpenAI passed one billion users after the cuts.

What happened

  • OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced the cuts on X: GPT-5.6 Luna now costs $0.20 per million input and $1.20 per million output tokens.
  • Mid-tier GPT-5.6 Terra fell 20 per cent to $2 and $12 per million tokens; flagship Sol got a "fast mode" up to 2.5 times faster.
  • MiniMax released its H3 video model on Friday, 31 July via API and its Hailuo platform, with full weights promised "in the coming days".
  • H3's licence permits free non-commercial use and commercial use by organisations under $20 million annual revenue, with attribution.
  • Research firm Artificial Analysis rates H3 first in video editing but behind Google's Gemini Omni Flash in text-to-video.

The view from outside

Nikkei Asia in Japan frames DeepSeek's V4 beta itself as what is heating up the price war, while the US business press leads with OpenAI's user milestone rather than the Chinese launches.

What could happen next

  • Bloomberg and Nikkei report only that DeepSeek opened a public beta API for V4; pricing and capability details are not published.
  • MiniMax has named no date for the H3 weights beyond "coming days".
  • Whether cheaper GPT-5.6 tiers hold developers against open-weight Chinese models is untested.
  • ByteDance is rolling out Seedance 2.5, setting up the next comparison in video generation.
How the camps see it

  • China: State-affiliated Global Times presents the DeepSeek and MiniMax releases as "a period of concentrated breakthroughs" for Chinese AI firms.

  • United States: US outlets foreground OpenAI's own numbers, its price cuts and a reported one billion users, rather than pressure from Chinese labs.

Also involved

Hong Kong media

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