The Leading AI Model Keeps Changing
First it was o3-mini.
Then Claude 3.7 Sonnet.
Now? Google’s Gemini 2.5 Pro has taken the top spot.
Here’s where the AI foundation model race stands today:
ONE — The Contenders
The main players in the arena right now:
- OpenAI — o3-mini
- Anthropic — Claude 3.7 Sonnet
- xAI — Grok 3
- DeepSeek — R1 (Mixture of Experts)
- Google — Gemini 2.0 Flash / 2.5 Pro
- Meta — LLaMA 3.4 Turbo
TWO — Benchmarks
Last week’s leaders:
- Claude 3.7 Sonnet → 76.10
- OpenAI o3-mini → 75.88
This week’s new front-runner:
- Gemini 2.5 Pro → 82.35
Google is now leading across most benchmark categories.
THREE — Fundraising Comparison
The capital behind the models:
- OpenAI → $57.9B raised
- Google → $50B estimated spend
- Meta → $37B estimated spend
- Anthropic → $14.3B raised
- xAI → $6B raised
- DeepSeek → $0.6B raised
Bottom line:
OpenAI is Uber.
Anthropic is Lyft.
But Google and Meta are heavyweight incumbents.
FOUR — Revenue in 2024
This is where OpenAI pulls ahead:
- OpenAI → $3.5B
- Google → $2.5B (est.)
- Anthropic → $1B
- xAI → $0.1B
- DeepSeek → $0
- Meta → $0 (no direct AI monetization yet)
OpenAI isn’t just building — it’s scaling.
FIVE — Headcount
Headcount reflects depth of experimentation:
- Google → ~6,000 (DeepMind + Research)
- OpenAI → ~3,350
- Meta → ~2,500
- Anthropic → ~1,035
- xAI → ~1,000
- DeepSeek → ~125
More researchers = more experiments = faster iteration cycles.
SIX — Search Trends
Sometimes public interest tells the real story:
- ChatGPT still dominates global search interest
- Claude is seeing momentum
- Gemini, LLaMA, DeepSeek are still far behind
Perception matters.
In AI, mindshare is quickly becoming market share.
Want to Work at a Leader?
Knowing AI isn’t enough anymore.
To stand out in this space, you need to understand:
- The ecosystem
- The business dynamics
- The distribution strategy
This post is your cheat sheet.
