Musk and Zuckerberg claw back into AI race with new model momentum

AxiosAugust 13, 2026en

Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg have muscled their way back into AI's elite ranks, defying early obituaries to close the gap on a new generation of Silicon Valley startups. Why it matters: Recent gains by tech giants SpaceX and Meta — long stuck in AI's second tier — are putting new pressure on a hierarchy dominated by OpenAI and Anthropic. State of play: Both companies released models this week featuring a combination of performance and price that would have been hard to imagine from either lab a year ago. SpaceX's Grok 4.6 scored essentially even with OpenAI's GPT-5.6 Sol Max on the closely watched Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index , and just behind Anthropic's Fable 5 Max. Promising "s

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• OpenAI
• Anthropic
• Meta
• xAI