Everyday AI Podcast – An AI and ChatGPT Podcast

Ep 853: The State of the AI Race. Who will win in 2026: OpenAI, Microsoft, Google Or Anthropic (Start Here Series Vol 12)

September 1, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

When OpenAI’s GPT-5-4 thinking model launched in early 2026, it quietly crossed a threshold that the entire industry had been chasing for years. Jordan Wilson, host of the Everyday AI Podcast, calls it “the first daily driver model”—a single system generally intelligent and transparent enough to handle the full spectrum of business operations, provided the right experts are steering it. That moment marks the end of the chatbot era and the beginning of something far more consequential: the race to own the agentic workflow. And in this race, the winner will not be the company with the best model. It will be the company that makes it easiest to bring your data into an agentic system and get enterprise-ready outputs back out.

The end of the chatbot era and what replaces it

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What you'll learn

1 Main Outline
2 (00:00) **Episode Introduction & Start Here Series Context** - Jordan Wilson explains the Start Here series and sets up the episode's central question about which company will win the AI race in 2026.
3 (01:18) **The Big Picture Thesis** - Jordan argues that the 2026 winner won't be determined by model quality alone, but by workflow integration and agentic data access.
4 (04:44) **Why the Chatbot Era is Over** - Jordan explains that AI has transitioned from chatbots to agentic systems that actually do work.
5 (06:32) **The Numbers: OpenAI** - OpenAI leads with 900 million weekly active users and $25 billion in annualized revenue.
6 (07:50) **The Numbers: Google** - Google reports 750 million monthly active users and 8 million paid enterprise seats, with Gemini embedded everywhere.
7 (08:48) **The Numbers: Microsoft** - Microsoft has 15 million paid Copilot seats and 90% Fortune 500 penetration, but is arguably in third place despite an early start.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Guests on this episode

Jordan Wilson

Show Notes

Who will win the AI race in 2026? 🏇

Will Google finally catch OpenAI in users?

Has Claude surpassed ChatGPT in capabilities?

And.... how can your company avoid the AI battles and just pick its lane?

So many AI questions. We've got your AI answers.

As part of our ongoing 'Start Here Series' we tackle one of the most important questions for most enterprises: Who will win the AI race and how do you decide?

The State of the AI Race. Who will win in 2026: OpenAI, Microsoft, Google Or Anthropic -- An Everyday AI Chat with Jordan Wilson

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Topics Covered in This Episode:

AI Race 2026: OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, Anthropic
Chatbot Era Ending: Rise of Agentic Systems
OpenAI vs Google vs Anthropic User Stats
Large Language Model Benchmark Comparisons
Enterprise AI Adoption Trends
Agentic Workflow Automation: Business Impacts
Microsoft Copilot and Governance Features
Anthropic Claude’s Premium Intelligence Integration

Timestamps:

00:00 "2026 AI Race Predictions"

04:01 "AI's Daily Driver Era Arrives"

08:31 AI Revenue and IPO Trends

10:10 "Revenue Success with Fewer Users"

13:42 AI Integration and Market Impact

19:49 Microsoft's Role in OpenAI Investments

21:00 "Microsoft vs Google: AI Investments"

26:42 "Anthropic's Focus on Specialized AI"

30:34 Microsoft Copilot's AI Evolution

31:28 Microsoft Copilot: CEO's Hands-On Vision

35:13 AI Coding Models Market Trends

38:44 "Modular AI for Enterprise Success"

42:06 "Everyday AI: Subscribe Now"

Keywords:

AI race, state of AI 2026, OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, Anthropic, enterprise AI, consumer