Which Is Lower Cost: "Cheap Chinese AI + Humans" or "High-Performance AI from OpenAI and Anthropic"?

SignalBloom AI modeled coding-agent costs and compared frontier AI APIs with a DeepSeek-plus-human-engineer workflow.

OpenAI and Anthropic can be more competitive at some usage levels, but their advantage narrows as token usage grows.

As frontier API prices rise, a cheaper Chinese model paired with human labor can become the lower-cost option.

The analysis suggests enterprise buyers may rethink AI procurement as price and usage patterns change.