Claude doubled for everyone. Codex is giving away 2 free months. Here's what it all means.
2026-05-18
Two big pieces of news landed in the AI world this week, and they're worth understanding — not because of the tech headlines, but because of what they mean for how you work. Anthropic permanently doubled Claude's usage limits. And OpenAI launched a new tool called Codex, offering 2 free months to businesses. Here's the plain-English version of both.
First: Claude just got a permanent upgrade
Since early 2026, Claude has had a frustrating quirk: during peak hours, it slows down and your usage window drains faster. On May 6, Anthropic announced that this is permanently fixed for paid users — and they doubled your limits at the same time.
The reason this happened: Anthropic signed a deal with SpaceX to access their Colossus 1 data centre — over 220,000 NVIDIA GPUs. Anthropic's CEO Dario Amodei admitted they predicted 10× growth in Claude usage over the past year. They got 80× instead. They simply ran out of capacity. This deal means they can keep up.
What this means for you
If you use Claude Pro, Max, Team, or Enterprise, you now get double the messages in every 5-hour window, and the slowdown that used to kick in during busy hours is gone. You should hit your limit far less often — and when you do, it resets faster.
Everything else Claude can do now (beyond just chatting)
The doubled limits weren't the only announcement. Anthropic launched a wave of new tools and integrations in May 2026. Here's what's actually available to you now:
Claude Design
Available as a research preview for Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise users. You describe what you want visually — a pitch deck, a one-pager, a prototype, a presentation — and Claude creates it on a live visual canvas. You can refine it with follow-up messages, voice commands, or inline edits. It exports to Canva, PDF, PowerPoint, or as a standalone URL you can share with anyone. Think of it as Canva, but you describe in plain English and Claude designs it.
Claude in Microsoft 365
Claude now works inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook as one connected assistant. The big difference from regular Copilot: Claude carries context across all four apps at once. If you draft a proposal in Word, Claude remembers it when you switch to Outlook to email it. Available through the Microsoft 365 connector.
Memory & Dreaming
Anthropic launched a feature called Dreaming (currently in research preview) — Claude now consolidates what it's learned about you between sessions, so it builds a clearer picture of your preferences and work style over time. Early testing showed a 6× improvement in task completion rates. It's paired with a new Outcomes feature that lets Claude measure its own success against criteria you define.
Multi-agent orchestration
Now in public beta: you can ask Claude to handle a complex project and it will spin up specialist sub-agents to work on different parts simultaneously. Think of it like a manager briefing a team — one agent researches, one drafts, one edits — all reporting back. This is particularly powerful for longer research or content projects.
Claude for Small Business
Anthropic launched Claude for Small Business with ready-to-run workflows that plug directly into QuickBooks, PayPal, HubSpot, Canva, DocuSign, Google Workspace, and Microsoft 365. Instead of starting from scratch, you get pre-built automations for things like invoice follow-up, lead nurturing, and contract review.
Claude Opus 4.7
The new flagship model powering Claude Design. It has a significantly improved ability to interpret images and visual information — the resolution it can 'see' went from 1.15 megapixels to 3.75 megapixels. It also has better judgment for complex, multi-step tasks.
Now: what is Codex, and why is it offering 2 free months?
Quick clarification first: the Codex being offered free right now is not the same as the old OpenAI Codex from 2021 (a coding API that most people never used). This is a brand new product — a full AI coding agent built on GPT-5.3, launched in early 2026.
The 2-months-free offer is specifically targeted at enterprise businesses. OpenAI announced that eligible enterprise customers who switch from a competitor (read: Claude) in the next 30 days get 2 free months of Codex for new users. Separately, all ChatGPT Pro users are getting double Codex usage through May 31. This is OpenAI responding directly to Anthropic's momentum — they want to pull enterprise teams across.
Important to know
The free trial is for enterprise accounts, not individual users. If you're a solo business owner or small team on ChatGPT Plus or Pro, the 2-months-free offer doesn't apply to you. You can still use Codex, but it counts against your normal usage.
Claude vs Codex: when to use which
These are not really competing tools for most business owners. They're built for different jobs. Here's the honest breakdown:
Use Claude when…
Writing content, emails, proposals, or social posts
Researching a topic or summarising information
Building strategy, business plans, or frameworks
Creating visual assets with Claude Design
Working in Microsoft 365 tools
Running a customer-facing AI assistant or chatbot
Automating business workflows (invoicing, contracts, CRM)
Anything where you are the non-technical person in the room
Use Codex when…
You are a developer (or working with one)
You want to write, test, and ship code automatically
You need to automate software — not just workflows
You want an AI to review and merge GitHub pull requests
You are building an app and need an agentic coding assistant
You are comfortable with terminals, SSH, and codebases
You want computer use — AI that literally controls your Mac
Your business involves software development as its core product
The simplest version: Claude is your business brain. Codex is a developer's coding assistant. If you don't write code as part of your work, Codex will feel like a very impressive tool that has nothing for you to do with it right now.
Our take
For most women building AI-powered businesses — whether that's services, content, courses, or products — Claude remains the right tool. The doubled limits and new features like Claude Design and the Microsoft 365 integration make it more powerful than ever. If you have a developer on your team, the Codex free trial is worth exploring. But if it's just you? Stick with Claude, use the extra headroom, and play with Claude Design.
The bigger picture
What's happening right now is a full-scale arms race between Anthropic and OpenAI for the business market. Anthropic is expanding Claude deeper into existing tools you already use (Microsoft, Google, QuickBooks, Canva). OpenAI is responding with aggressive pricing moves and a focus on developers and enterprise IT teams.
For you, the practical outcome is good: the tools are getting more capable, the limits are getting more generous, and the prices haven't gone up. The competition is working in your favour.
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