Could there be a benefit to releasing a new model, slowly dumbing it down over a couple months, then releasing a new model that’s marginally if at all better than the original to create a perceived improvement when in reality there isn’t really one?
For an industry that’s stagnant in progress yet relies on new frequent releases to survive (non-progress being an existential risk), this could make sense.
I have no idea if that’s what’s happened, I completely pulled it out of my butt. And I have no idea is the actual frontier is stagnating.
> Could there be a benefit to releasing a new model, slowly dumbing it down over a couple months, then releasing a new model that’s marginally if at all better than the original to create a perceived improvement when in reality there isn’t really one?
Exactly what I am saying for months now. And it's exactly the reason why I am shifting to open weight models now. Just bought myself a 2x DGX Spark Cluster. Will run Qwen3.8 Flash Next on it, maybe Qwen4 when it comes out.
Not only do I have full control over quantization and inference, but also will I experience a constant level of quality. It won't be frontier. But it will be stable, and that's enough reason for me to switch. Also I will likely save some money on subscriptions.
I wouldn't be so sure. The generosity of the subscription plans has declined GREATLY over the past 6 months or so. They are likely trending towards api pricing parity. In which case, having your own hardware makes sense if you can utilize it well.
I max out my Claude Max plan every week, and I can measure the output, and for me it's stayed fairly constant, subject to the various "bonuses" whenever Anthropic is feeling the competitive pressure.
Well to be fair the output you get has improved greatly. You can still get billions and billions of Luna/Sonnet tokens within your subscription comfortably (doesn’t feel fair to compare Luna to Haiku). Sol/Astra/Fable… yeah, they’ll chew through your credit.
talon8635 · · focus · HN ↗
For an industry that’s stagnant in progress yet relies on new frequent releases to survive (non-progress being an existential risk), this could make sense.
I have no idea if that’s what’s happened, I completely pulled it out of my butt. And I have no idea is the actual frontier is stagnating.
AmazingTurtle · · focus · HN ↗
Exactly what I am saying for months now. And it's exactly the reason why I am shifting to open weight models now. Just bought myself a 2x DGX Spark Cluster. Will run Qwen3.8 Flash Next on it, maybe Qwen4 when it comes out.
Not only do I have full control over quantization and inference, but also will I experience a constant level of quality. It won't be frontier. But it will be stable, and that's enough reason for me to switch. Also I will likely save some money on subscriptions.
ramesh31 · · focus · HN ↗
Unlikely. The $200 Claude subscription allows for billions of tokens/month, and that kind of hardware will take years to amortize.
torben-friis · · focus · HN ↗
rybosworld · · focus · HN ↗
vidarh · · focus · HN ↗
CookieCrisp · · focus · HN ↗
rybosworld · · focus · HN ↗
d1sxeyes · · focus · HN ↗