Anthropic's new Claude Sonnet 4.6 matches top-tier AI in coding and tasks, now free for all users, boosting competition and affecting SaaS stocks.

Anthropic has released Claude Sonnet 4.6, a major upgrade to its mid-tier AI model that now matches or exceeds its higher-priced Opus 4.6 in coding, office tasks, and computer use, with a 1 million token context window in beta for handling large documents and codebases. The model shows near-human performance in navigating spreadsheets, filling web forms, and managing browser tabs, while reducing hallucinations and overengineering. It is now the default for all Free and Pro users at the same pricing, with enhanced safety, agentic capabilities, and support for tools like web search and code execution. The rapid release, following a $1.5 billion funding round, underscores intensifying competition in AI, contributing to recent declines in SaaS stocks amid concerns over AI disruption.