Meta, Microsoft slash Claude use as spending cut hits

The pullback is not merely a budgeting exercise. Meta had already introduced AI cost-cutting measures in June, suggesting the reduction in Claude Code users was part of a broader effort rather than a sudden reversal. For Microsoft, the direction came from executives Scott Guthrie and Jay Parikh, who told employees to use in-house tools instead — a signal that the company sees external models as less central to its internal workflow.

Anthropic has grown extremely fast, and that growth is now making it a headache for incumbents. Even Microsoft has reason to worry, since tools like Claude Cowork and ChatGPT Work are increasingly turning into Office alternatives. The irony of Meta worrying about someone else using its data is hard to miss, given it reportedly wanted to restrict Anthropic's access to its training data.

The stakes for Anthropic hinge on how much of this pullback is cyclical cost management versus a permanent shift toward in-house alternatives. If the cuts are mostly about price, a cheaper offering or renewed contract could reverse them. If they reflect a strategic decision by Meta and Microsoft to favor their own tools, then Anthropic's reliance on a few major clients looks more like a structural risk.