AI firms are moving into each other's markets

Earlier this year, I sketched a competition map for my desk, dividing a sheet of paper into columns for different parts of the AI supply chain. There were the labs — OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, etc. — making models and chatbots; the AI coding platforms — Cursor, Cognition, and Replit — building coding assistants powered by those models; and startups creating hyper-specific applications, like agents that live in your email, execute marketing strategies, or automate payroll.

The map quickly got messy because AI companies are ruthlessly invading each others turf. Firms that begin with a narrow capability are rapidly expanding into other areas. Last year, Anthropic and OpenAI launched Claude Code and Codex, coding platforms that compete with Cursor and Cognition, and user screenshots on X suggest Anthropic may be working on an app builder for non-techies.

"It's not a surprise. We've been anticipating this for a while and sort of internally thinking and preparing about it," Emergent CEO Mukund Jha said.

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