It's not clear replies to this thread aren't openAI employees or incentivized influencers, but every benchmark has gpt-5.5 underperforming opus 4.8, sometimes by as much as 10%.

Can they all be wrong/paid-off?

i’m not employed by either, but ideologically might be biased towards Anthropic. I find codex is absolutely better for intelligence/$. Fable is likely better, but codex honestly feels like a utility in the posix sense in that it is very fast/extensible/simple and the model seems less opinionated and more willing to just work directly towards your goals.

Is there a known headcount for OpenAI influences v Anthropic influencers?

On threads like this, this site seems to be made of nothing but boosters for one or the other, with their emphatic professions of faith, all based on inscrutable, unverifiable inner experience. When no one bothers even to reflect what conditions a proper assertion would require, the discourse is pure faith propositions.