Anthropic has rightly focused on maximizing useful intelligence, which does not show up in benchmarks, but definitely shows up in revenue.
💡 Inside Track & Deep Insight
In a notable shift from his usual emphasis on benchmark dominance, Elon Musk acknowledged Anthropic's strategy of prioritizing 'true usefulness' over standard AI metrics. Musk's comment, made in a reply on X, suggests that he sees revenue as a more reliable indicator of AI utility than conventional benchmarks, which he dismissed as incomplete measures of intelligence. This marks a rare moment of public praise for a competitor and could signal a broader reevaluation of how the industry measures AI progress.
The statement also highlights a growing divergence in AI development philosophies: while xAI, Musk's own venture, has aggressively pursued benchmark-topping models like Grok, Anthropic has focused on building products that drive real-world adoption and revenue. Musk's admission that 'even Q1 would be very impressive' by this metric implicitly concedes that Anthropic's approach may have commercial merit. This could influence investor sentiment, as markets increasingly seek tangible returns from AI investments rather than abstract performance scores.
👇 Original Post on X
On benchmarks, yes, but as measured by true usefulness even Q1 would be very impressive.
Anthropic has rightly focused on maximizing useful intelligence, which does not show up in benchmarks, but definitely shows up in revenue.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 18, 2026