Build While It Lasts

OpenAI and Anthropic are fighting over us.

More accurately, they are fighting over the people hammering Claude Code and Codex all day. But still…we are in the middle and the divorced parents are trying to prove who loves us most.

So we got a pony.

On Sunday Anthropic extended Claude Fable 5 through July 19 and kept Claude Code's weekly limits 50% higher.

Exactly 57 minutes and 53 seconds later, OpenAI removed Codex's five-hour restriction and reset everybody's usage.

In those 53 minutes I burned 50% of my weekly Codex usage but I knew Tibo was about to drop another reset on us.

I was very happy to be right!

One Day. One Billion Tokens.

One heavy day last month I got through roughly 940 million tokens in Codex. Call it a billion because I was close enough and it makes the maths less annoying…

At Fable's API list price, one billion tokens would cost $10,000 if every token was input or $50,000 if every token was output. The real bill would sit somewhere between those limits depending on the mix and caching - probably $15,000 for the day.

One day mind you.

That is not what I paid. Phew.

I paid for a normal subscription. Like a sane person.

The labs are temporarily converting five-figure compute habits into a two or three-figure bill. They are eating the cost because they want the power users, the developers and the businesses who will eventually spend proper money through the API.

This is a subsidy window.

It is also why people are getting (very) twitchy about Fable disappearing.

Why Fable Keeps Coming Back

Fable is Anthropic's halo model. It gives Claude the claim to having the best model available on a subscription.

The problem is that GPT-5.6 Sol is now extremely close on the Artificial Analysis intelligence index, while costing about a third as much on their benchmark. Grok 4.5 is hanging around the frontier too.

If Anthropic removes Fable from subscriptions, Claude's paid offer suddenly looks a lot less exciting at exactly the point OpenAI is piling on pressure. It could go from 1st position to 3rd position (behind Grok!!!).

So Fable gets another week.

My guess is that Anthropic wants Opus 5 ready around July 20 or 21. That is a guess, based on the extension ending on the 19th. If Opus 5 is not ready, I reckon Fable gets extended again…

Anything but lose position to ChatGPT.

Every Reset, The Builders Go Feral

My WhatsApp group has about 100 people in it. Every time Anthropic or OpenAI resets the meter, people drop what they are doing and pile back into building.

I was working in Codex until about 11pm on Sunday because I expected the reset… adn so were many people in my community. Getting things done whilst the going is good.

Rob Hallam took it much further. Over the last couple weeks he bought four $200 Claude accounts so he could keep Fable running, then stayed up all night trying to finish work before access disappeared. He ended up in hospital with stress and panic-attack-like symptoms.

To be clear, the model did not put him in hospital. The stress and binge-work cycle did. Rob said that himself. This is not hustle porn. It is a sign that shifting limits and rubbish communication are making otherwise sensible people behave irrationally. Get well soon Rob!

Rent The Intelligence → Own The Output.

There is a REAL urgency though.

Right now we are getting tens of thousands worth of usage for a hundred bucks a month or less.

The cheap state-of-the-art AI will not be here forever. And when subscriptions stop being subsidise (because, you know, the companies want to make a profit!) we are left with escalating AI bills.

This means we have a window of opportunity to build and create.

Use the rented intelligence while it is cheap. Turn it into things that remain after the reset disappears:

• Code

• Products

• Systems

• Audience

• Revenue

We lease to buy if that makes this clearer. We spend a little now (a few hundred dollars on AI subscriptions) to build assets that can cash flow life changing amounts of money.

There is a darker edge here too. People who turn cheap access into skills, assets and cash now can afford better access later. People who wait may find the tools more expensive at the same time their existing work is under pressure.

That is the K-shaped economy warning- a split between those who use AI to accelerate now and those who ignore it.

Those who grab the opportunity and run with it will be able to make money and thus continue to afford the use of AI.

Those who do not will no longer be able to enter the game because the cost of AI will increase. They’ll be locked out forever.

This is possible outcome, not an economic law carved into stone. But I would rather you start learning now than discover in two years that the useful stuff costs a grand a month.

The answer is not to panic harder. Build something.

Your First Job: Build

Your first project should be a toy. Open Codex, tell it what you want, look at what it gives you and keep talking until it works. You do not need to read the code. You need judgement, feedback and a real problem.

The First Steps in Vibe Coding guide will get you from zero to a working app without the technical faff.

Then build a second thing somebody might actually pay for. Start with the problem and the buyer rather than disappearing for six months to build your grand vision. My AI Business Ideas playbook walks through that bit.

And use the expensive models where they matter. I use Fable for the big hairy planning and judgement, then pass implementation to cheaper models like GPT-5.6 Sol in Codex. Better brains for the hard decisions. Cheaper hands for the build. I wrote a full guide on this recently - how to work with multiple AI tools.

If you are already ahead, bring someone with you. Businesses are desperate for people who can translate this stuff into normal English. I am teaching the full workshop model on Wednesday at 6pm UK time (tonight), and there is a recording if you are watching the football!

The meter will come back. Build before it does.

To the Task,

Kyle

Why it matters: Build While It Lasts OpenAI and Anthropic are fighting.