Yesterday in AI: 09 April 2026 — OpenAI's $100 Codex Plan Targets Claude Code
OpenAI launched a $100/month ChatGPT plan priced to match Anthropic's Claude Code exactly — while Visa enabled AI agents to make credit card purchases and Google DeepMind published a financial safety framework for autonomous agents, all on the same day.
By OMC Editorial on 2026-04-10
OpenAI launched a $100/month ChatGPT plan on April 9 priced to the dollar to match Anthropic's Claude Code Max 5x — while Visa enabled AI agents to make credit card purchases and Google DeepMind published a safety framework for agentic financial transactions, all in the same 24 hours.
OpenAI's $100 Codex Tier: Matching Claude Code Dollar for Dollar
On April 9, 2026, OpenAI introduced a new $100/month ChatGPT Pro plan targeted at heavy Codex users — its AI coding agent embedded directly in ChatGPT. The tier fills the gap between the $20/month Plus plan and the existing $200/month Pro plan, offering 5x more Codex usage than Plus. Through May 31, a promotional bonus bumps that to 10x. OpenAI simultaneously "rebalanced" Codex limits in Plus, spreading capacity across the week rather than allowing marathon single-day sessions. The timing is unmistakable: Anthropic's Claude Code Max 5x also costs exactly $100/month, and days earlier Anthropic blocked third-party Claude Code harnesses from drawing on subscription credits — effectively funneling users toward its own products. Both companies are now explicitly competing for the same $100/month developer budget. TechCrunchhttps://techcrunch.com/2026/04/09/chatgpt-pro-plan-100-month-codex/, MacRumorshttps://www.macrumors.com/2026/04/09/openai-pro-subscription-tiers/, CNBChttps://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/09/openai-chatgpt-pro-subscription-anthropic-claude-code.html
Visa and Nevermined: AI Agents Can Now Swipe Your Card
Also on April 9, Visa and decentralized AI marketplace Nevermined announced that AI agents can autonomously make credit card purchases within cardholder-defined policies. The integration pairs Visa Intelligent Commerce with Coinbase's x402 payment protocol, allowing agents to complete transactions without per-step human approval. Users set guardrails — merchant categories, spending caps, time windows — and the agent executes within them. The move marks a landmark shift: agentic AI is no longer confined to gener