Elon Musk calls Anthropic current AI leader

Elon Musk said Anthropic is the “current AI leader” in a post on X on July 9, a notable public endorsement from a longtime rival of OpenAI and builder of his own AI businesses. The post, described in social chatter circulating Thursday, praised Anthropic’s Mythos and Fable models and pointed to a coming “Mythos 2” release. Anthropic itself did not comment publicly on Musk’s remarks in materials reviewed Thursday. The company did, however, publish product updates the same day that added to a picture of rapid product expansion. ### Why does Musk’s comment stand out? Elon Musk has spent much of the past two years criticizing competing AI companies while promoting his own efforts, so a direct statement elevating Anthropic above the field is unusual. The comment matters less as a product review than as a signal that Anthropic has become difficult for rivals to dismiss in public. May 7 offers some context for that shift. (support.claude.com) Axios reported then that Musk had moved from attacking Anthropic earlier in the year to doing business with it through a compute arrangement, underscoring how quickly relationships in the AI market have changed. ### What can be verified about the models Musk praised? Anthropic’s release notes show that access to Claude Fable 5 and Claude Mythos 5 was restored on July 1. The same release notes place those names inside Anthropic’s current model lineup, confirming that Mythos and Fable are active branded model families rather than rumor-cycle placeholders. (axios.com) July 1 is also the latest official checkpoint visible in Anthropic’s public help-center changelog for those two models. Musk’s reference to a future “Mythos 2” could not be independently verified from official Anthropic materials reviewed Thursday. ### What is the new Reflect feature people are talking about? (support.claude.com) Anthropic said on July 9 that “a new way to reflect with Claude” is now in beta for Free, Pro and Max users on the web and Claude Desktop. The company described it as a monthly recap under Settings > Reflect that shows “the topics you spent time on, your most active day and peak hour, and observations about how you work with Claude.” Anthropic said the feature requires memory to be turned on. The company’s wording also addresses one point that spread quickly in social posts: Reflect is framed as a user-facing review of usage patterns, not as a general announcement that those patterns are being used to train models. Anthropic’s release note did not say the feature trains on user data. ### Where does the talk of $1 billion in profit come from? (support.claude.com) A July 9 report aggregated by several finance and AI-focused outlets said SemiAnalysis projected Anthropic could top $1 billion in profit in the third quarter of 2026, driven by enterprise revenue growth. Those reports cite SemiAnalysis rather than Anthropic, and Reuters could not independently verify the forecast from primary company filings reviewed for this piece. The forecast has circulated alongside claims that Anthropic’s enterprise business is separating it from rivals on monetization. That characterization comes from outside analysis, not from a new Anthropic earnings release on Thursday. ### What comes next from Anthropic? July 9 is already a product date for Anthropic because Reflect entered beta that day, according to the company’s release notes. (europesays.com) The next public milestones to watch are any official Anthropic announcement on future Mythos releases and any company filing or statement that addresses the profit forecasts now circulating around its enterprise business. (support.claude.com)