For the past couple of years, the AI race has been framed as a contest between large language model builders, with OpenAI commanding a huge early lead over rivals like Google and Anthropic. But that framing is starting to look outdated.
That shift became harder to ignore with the latest round of model releases. OpenAI’s long-awaited GPT-5 was supposed to mark another leap forward. Instead, it landed as a modest upgrade, reinforcing the sense that progress in LLMs is becoming incremental.
In boardrooms and executive teams, the conversation has already moved on. The question is no longer which model is best, but what is any of this actually doing for the business?
The benchmarks most often used to rank these models focus heavily on puzzle-solving and abstract reasoning, rather than whether those systems are reliable, cheap, secure or easy to roll out inside large organisations. That’s what companies care most about.
As the technical differences between leading models narrow, the battle is shifting elsewhere.
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