Christmas holidays have not yet ended, but the global AI programming competition has reached its peak. Recently, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google launched holiday special events in sync, competing to attract developers to use their AI programming tools during the holiday period through model upgrades, doubled quotas, and price discounts, quietly igniting an "end-of-year promotional battle" among tech professionals.

OpenAI launches "Christmas Edition Codex," API quota doubled

On December 25, OpenAI officially launched the GPT-5.2-Codex-XMas holiday edition. According to Thibault Sottiaux, the Codex engineering director, this version is functionally identical to the standard GPT-5.2-Codex, with only holiday-themed elements added, as a "Christmas gift for developers."

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The more substantial benefit lies in: from now until January 1, 2026, all paid ChatGPT users' Codex API call limits will be doubled. This move aims to encourage users to frequently use its engineering-level coding model during the holiday period.

GPT-5.2-Codex, released at the end of December, is positioned as an "agent-style programming assistant" - it can not only generate code snippets but also perform complex tasks such as cross-file refactoring and project migration, and is deeply compatible with Windows, .NET, and enterprise internal network environments. The recently introduced "Skills" mechanism also supports teams in reusing standardized engineering processes, enhancing its practical application in real development scenarios.

Anthropic and Google follow up with increased efforts

Competitors quickly responded. Anthropic announced that from December 25 to 31, the usage quotas for Claude Pro and Max subscription users would double. Meanwhile, the company has officially integrated Claude Code into the Slack platform, allowing users to directly call code capabilities by mentioning Claude in group chats, achieving "coding in collaboration."

Google took a more aggressive inclusive strategy: On December 22, its Gemini CLI tool announced that the Gemini3 model would be open to free users; at the same time, Google One's annual subscription package launched a "half-price year-end gift" campaign, bundling advanced AI tools such as Gemini3Pro and Duet AI for sale, significantly lowering the threshold for using professional features.

Developers' reactions are divided: some rush to meet KPIs, while others complain "the holiday is gone"

On social platforms, users have varied reactions to this "benefit war." Some developers said they would use the doubled quota window to "complete projects before the new year," while programmers joked: "I wanted to have a good holiday, but the AI forced me to work overtime."

Industry analysis points out that behind this holiday marketing, there is actually a deep competition for AI programming dominance among the three companies. OpenAI focuses on engineering agent capabilities, Anthropic targets team collaboration access points, and Google pushes for mass popularization - although the approaches differ, the goal is consistent: to make their own AI an indispensable "digital colleague" for developers.

As 2026 approaches, the competition for AI programming tools has extended from model performance to ecological integration and user experience. This competition that started on Christmas may become the prelude to reshaping the AI developer ecosystem in the new year.