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Claude Opus 5.5

1806 points · 1134 comments · km144

  1. sailingparrot · · focus · HN ↗
    > Claude Opus 5.5 is our first release since we called for pacing the frontier.

    Interesting how the very first line is used to remind the reader of their call to pace the frontier just last week, and everything else after that line is to demonstrate with very specific numbers how they absolutely are not pacing.

    1. mukmuk · · focus · HN ↗
      “Pacing the frontier” sounds smarmy and weird, like the phrase was generated by Claude itself
      1. DiggyJohnson · · focus · HN ↗
        I really don't think it's productive for internet forums to constantly be criticizing language choice when the meaning is clear. Better to respond to the substance of the issue than word choice.

        Edit: In response to the initial replies. To me it clearly means "releasing frontier models at any pace less than as fast as possible". It implies relative restraint compared to the previous state and without stating the degree of restraint.

        1. post-it · · focus · HN ↗
          Is the meaning clear? Nobody would use "pacing" in this way. I only know what it means because I've seen previous press releases; if someone told me they wanted to pace the frontier I would have no idea what they mean.

          I'm on the fence about calling out AI-isms but I think it's definitely worthwhile to call out ones that actually don't make sense.

          1. sigmar · · focus · HN ↗
            It makes sense to me. If you 'pace your running', you're setting the speed intentionally. The phrasing doesn't describe whether it is fast pace or a slow pace, but it describes having a goal and not just winging it.
            1. antod · · focus · HN ↗
              That's one interpretation. When referring not to other actions but to a word describing a location it becomes more ambiguous.

              eg "pacing the frontier" could also mean they are impatiently or anxiously walking up and down the border.

              1. smelendez · · focus · HN ↗
                This is a more normal English meaning in my opinion — you picture a sentry patrolling a border.
              2. pegasus · · focus · HN ↗
                That's when one is supposed to employ their common sense for semantic disambiguation. Spoken languages are not programming languages. I for one found it easy to parse.
                1. InsideOutSanta · · focus · HN ↗
                  People claiming they don't understand or are confused by relatively simple English is a surprisingly common genre of comments on HN. I wonder what causes the people here to have these feelings towards English; my guess is indeed that many people here judge English as if it were a programming language.
                  1. heroiccocoa · · focus · HN ↗
                    That is certainly one possible explanation, but I think another likely explanation is that once your brain learn programming, especially logic, data structures & algorithms, you just start seeing the ambiguity in non-programmers' writing so much more clearly.
                  2. manlymuppet · · focus · HN ↗
                    A more simple explanation I think, is that people on this forum aren't big on AI companies at the moment, and they're looking for things to dislike.

                    In this case that means three words that are perfectly clear are being endlessly overanalyzed.

                    To me, this entire reply thread is such a phenomenal waste of human effort. A shame. I would expect more from this site.

                  3. mikestorrent · · focus · HN ↗
                    From my dabbling with policy writing and legalese, English kinda _is_ a programming language, but one with ambiguity as a first class principal. Sometimes you would like to say something that seems normal at first blush, but gives you the latitude you need to mean something different at the time it is actually being evaluated in a situation that matters. Weasel words, for instance, serve a purpose even if we eschew them. The idea is that it is deliberately NOT formally declaring the exact meaning of something, nor the fact that it is not doing this. How could you really do that in code without calling attention to the very thing you're trying to obscure?
                2. 1attice · · focus · HN ↗
                  This is because it is valley jargon and we are all saturated with it. You may not have heard it before, but it is structurally close to similar concepts, eg "frontier model", that you got there without noticing.

                  It was still shit tier comms for communicating with the whole planet, but yes, for the inner loop, it was succinct and clear.

                  Valley neuralese

                  1. rcxdude · · focus · HN ↗
                    'Pacing' in this context is not valley jargon, it's almost the opposite in that it comes from athletics/sports.
                    1. Avicebron · · focus · HN ↗
                      Valley jargon isn't a nerd vs jock thing these days, and hasn't been for a good while. It's more quasi-intellectual sophistry sprinkled with some tech lingo.
              3. bee_rider · · focus · HN ↗
                That’s what I thought the original blog post was going to be about, pacing back and forth along the frontier. It’s a much more straightforward parse.
                1. [deleted] · · focus · HN ↗

                  [deleted]

              4. bryan_w · · focus · HN ↗
                Y'all don't know about NASCAR and it shows
                1. rob74 · · focus · HN ↗
                  There is a "pace car" in Formula One too...
              5. astrange · · focus · HN ↗
                I like to imagine it means pacing around the frontier like a leopard looking for prey.
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