Industry observers note that if you haven’t kicked the tires yet on the most recent and greatest ChatGPT and Claude models, this is your lucky week.
The report highlights that openAI is (fittingly) opening the flood gates to GPT-5.6 Sol, its just-dropped and most powerful model, announcing Sunday that it’s “temporarily” lifting the five-hour usage window for ChatGPT Plus, Business, and Pro subscribers.
As part of the ongoing story, anthropic is also doubling Claude Cowork usage limits until August 5 and boosting weekly Claude Code limits by 50 percent through July 19. At the same time, Anthropic is – again – extending the trial period for Fable 5, its own fresh top-of-the-line, giving Claude subscribers another week of in-plan access.
According to the latest update, the relaxed usage limits are only temporary, of course, and the cynical way of looking at them is that Anthropic and OpenAI are just whetting our appetites before tighter usage restrictions go back into effect.
Industry observers note that then again, it could simply be the result of competition between the rival AI giants, with OpenAI trying to scoop up Anthropic subscribers annoyed by the previously unveiled and tighter restrictions on Fable 5, and Anthropic responding in kind.
According to the latest update, whatever the reason, now is a good time for ChatGPT and Claude subscribers to reap the benefits of the relaxed usage limits, particularly when it comes to GPT-5.6 and Fable.
According to the latest update, aside from (temporarily) lifting its usual five-hour usage window, OpenAI says it’s optimizing the GPT-5.6 Sol’s reasoning and “multi-agent” use to keeping it from burning so many AI tokens.
The report highlights that for now, it appears GPT-5.6 Sol will remain on ChatGPT subscription plans, with no indication from OpenAI that subscribers will need to buy usage credits for the fresh model (aside from those who’ve burned through their regular usage limits).
Industry observers note that anthropic has warned it will eventually pull Fable 5 from its subscription plans, although an Anthropic exec has (now) repeated an earlier promise that “we aim to restore Fable as a standard part of our subscriptions as soon as capacity allows.”.
As part of the ongoing story, his coverage of artificial intelligence interrogates the most recent LLMs, and how they can be used at work and at home to be best prepared for the AI revolution. “AI is going to change our lives sooner than we think,” Ben writes. “Our best way to adapt is by using it every day.” Ben has been a PCWorld author since 2014, and has covered everything from laptops to security cameras before launching PCWorld’s AI beat. Ben's articles have also appeared in PC Magazine, TIME, Wired, CNET, Men's Fitness, Mobile Magazine, and more. Ben holds a master's degree in English literature. Ben has been writing about consumer technology for more than 20 years, and now focuses his reporting on AI as it relates to the basic human experience.