Cat Wu, the product lead behind Anthropic's Claude Code, has left the company and is joining rival OpenAI, she announced on X. OpenAI confirmed the hire, while Anthropic declined to comment, according to Business Insider.
Wu departed Anthropic last week after becoming one of the company's highest-profile product managers. She will now lead product management for OpenAI's core products team, working alongside Nick Turley on enterprise products and Ashley Alexander on consumer products, reporting to Tibo Sottiaux. The move is a significant coup for OpenAI, which has been racing Anthropic in the market for AI coding tools.
From Claude Code to OpenAI's Core Products
At Anthropic, Wu oversaw Claude Code's rise from an internal prototype to a commercial juggernaut that boosted the company's finances and reshaped how software engineers work day to day. She became one of the tool's most visible evangelists on social media.
Her exit comes just weeks before Anthropic's planned initial public offering, as the startup pitches its financials to investors. Wu wrote that she has "a lot of respect for OpenAI" and cited its reach of over 1 billion users. In her announcement post, she said the team will "build agents that have your back and your team's, and keep you in control."
Why the Hire Matters for Codex and the AI Coding Race
OpenAI's Codex, a tool similar to Claude Code, has driven the company's growth and is increasingly being pointed at non-technical work. The hire could help Codex adoption — a priority since OpenAI fell behind Anthropic in enterprise sales earlier this year, per Business Insider.
AI models' coding abilities and their capacity to handle long-term tasks are now central to the industry's ambitions. Wu's move follows an earlier departure: she and Claude Code creator Boris Cherny left for AI coding startup Cursor in 2025 before quickly returning to Anthropic, The Information reported at the time.
