Anthropic executive Mark Smith has delivered a subtly critical comment on OpenAI’s spending habits and advertising strategy, emphasizing his company’s more disciplined approach to growth and resource allocation. Speaking in a recent interview, Smith highlighted Anthropic’s focus on efficiency and long-term sustainability, contrasting it with what he described as the “flashy headlines” and aggressive spending seen elsewhere in the AI industry. “We’re taking a more disciplined approach to spending than some others,” Smith said, reinforcing the company’s “do more with less” philosophy. He noted that Anthropic’s leadership team reviews compute spending on a daily basis, ensuring that investments align closely with actual demand rather than speculative growth. “This isn’t us buying ahead of demand,” Smith said, pointing to strong performance in key enterprise products like Claude Code and Cowork. He cited “incredible growth” in both products and overall enterprise adoption, stressing that the company must meet rising customer needs without overextending. Smith emphasized the importance of precision in infrastructure investment. “We’re looking at buying as close to the right amount of compute to keep us on that very, very significant acceleration curve—neither too much nor too little,” he said. “Too little would be bad for our customers, but overspending would be unsustainable.” He also hinted at upcoming infrastructure announcements, suggesting that Anthropic is preparing to scale its capabilities in a measured, strategic way. The remarks come on the heels of a major partnership announced Wednesday between Anthropic and Man Group, a global investment management firm. Under the agreement, Man Group will integrate Anthropic’s AI tools into its operations and collaborate on developing new AI-driven solutions tailored to financial services. The collaboration underscores Anthropic’s growing presence in the enterprise market, where reliability, cost control, and responsible AI use are top priorities. As the AI race intensifies, Smith’s comments reflect a broader strategic pivot: prioritizing sustainable growth over headline-grabbing spending sprees.