Comment by skeledrew

Their models are accessed via their backend; the models are not the backend. Their backend is unique from a features perspective, while their models are unique by virtue of training data+technique.

> They make it impossible for smaller players to compete.

No they don't. Ollama is healthy, OpenRouter, and quite a few others. Then there are actual model makers such as DeepSeek, Google, Mistral, Zai, etc. The lists march on and nobody wanting access to LLMs is left in the cold. Somehow you're still trying to stick terms which just don't apply to the status quo. Unless you believe that Anthropic's offerings are so unique and critical to people's well-being that they should be treated as a public utility or something, which is laughable.

> So was Über, so was AirBNB

There is the option of not using them. But they actually have cornered a part of the market as well, even if that part is primarily comprised of well-to-do's ready to throw money to avoid the slightest inconvenience.