SUMM

Anthropic is praised by developers for their models that simplify code writing and for their Cloud Code product.
Despite technical strengths, Anthropic is criticized for not being good stewards of open source and software development.
The presenter has spent $31,000 in a month with Anthropic and feels qualified to critique them based on direct experience.

Code Rabbit is an AI tool for code review, providing summaries, diagrams, and feedback within pull requests.
The tool helps catch bugs, reduces manual review workload for teams, and can be customized with rules for coding standards.

Anthropic is accused of cutting off model access to competitors (e.g., Windinsurf, OpenAI).
The company projects a humanitarian image but is seen as contradictory and protective of their "secret sauce."
A leaked CEO memo shows internal debate over principles vs. business pragmatism, e.g., considering investment sources.
Anthropic is unique among major AI labs in not open-sourcing their coding CLI (Cloud Code) and instead issuing DMCA requests against reverse engineers.
Cloud Code was considered internal “secret sauce” and nearly withheld from public release to protect productivity advantages.
The company’s early advantage lay in tool-calling capabilities, but competition from open-weight models (GLM 4.5, Kimmy K2) is growing.
Other labs, such as Google and OpenAI, have open-sourced their CLIs and accepted outside contributions.
Anthropic has not released open-weight models nor reduced prices, unlike peers that have made models and access cheaper or more open over time.

Anthropic’s advantage in tool-calling is diminishing as alternatives catch up or surpass their capabilities.
Their models previously excelled at UI tasks (e.g., generating Tailwind components), but new models (Horizon, GPT-4.1) now match or exceed them.
Openness in the AI sector (e.g., publishing research, releasing model weights) contrasts with Anthropic’s closed approach.
Pricing remains high and discounts are minimal (only 5% with a major upfront spend commitment).

Anthropic aggressively restricted access to Windinsurf even though a relevant acquisition hadn’t happened.
The company justifies cutoff by claiming competitors use their models to improve rival products, which the presenter deems illogical.
Despite blocking access through official channels, models can still be accessed via third-party providers (e.g., Google Vertex, AWS Bedrock).
Such restrictions are seen as petty displays of arrogance and insecurity, targeting competitors and even non-competitor projects.
Terms of service prevent users from building competing products, raising concerns about Anthropic's openness to developer ecosystems.

Anthropic has issued multiple DMCA requests to take down reverse-engineered versions of Cloud Code, even for mistakes in publishing source maps.
The process involved having old npm package versions removed, which is rare and demonstrates Anthropic’s influence and determination.
Open-source alternatives like ADER exist, limiting the practical secrecy or benefit of Anthropic's aggressive behavior.
GitHub’s transparency revealed multiple DMCA requests from Anthropic targeting rehosts of Cloud Code.

Innovations by other labs (especially OpenAI) have narrowed the technical gap, encouraging developers to migrate.
Anthropic’s business edge has been favored by devs, but loyalty is waning as alternatives become more appealing.
The company is challenging to work with regarding support and access, with slow communication and difficult negotiations (e.g., for rate limits).
The presenter describes better relations and transparency with both OpenAI and Google.

Working with Anthropic produces “weird vibes,” with strong technology overshadowed by problematic business practices and lack of openness.
Some excellent researchers and technologies exist within Anthropic, but company management is marked as problematic, even damaging at times.
The presenter calls for more community discussion around Anthropic’s practices and voices hope for more openness and improvement from the company.

Anthropic has weird vibes