> Google essentially only has Preview models! The last GA is 2.5. As a developer, I can either use an outdated model or have zero insurances that the model doesn't get discontinued within weeks.

What's funny is that there is this common meme at Google: you can either use the old, unmaintained tool that's used everywhere, or the new beta tools that doesn't quite do what you want.

Not quite the same, but it did remind me of it.

> What a model mess! OpenAI now has three price points: GPT 5.1, GPT 5.2 and now GPT 5.4.

I don't know, this feels unnecessarily nitpicky to me

It isn't hard to understand that 5.4 > 5.2 > 5.1. It's not hard to understand that the dash-variants have unique properties that you want to look up before selecting.

Especially for a target audience of software engineers skipping a version number is a common occurrence and never questioned.

Google is already sending notices that the 2.5 models will be deprecated soon while all the 3.x models are in preview. It really is wild and peak Google.

> or have zero insurances that the model doesn't get discontinued within weeks

Why are you using the same model after a month? Every month a better model comes out. They are all accessible via the same API. You can pay per-token. This is the first time in, like, all of technology history, that a useful paid service is so interoperable between providers that switching is as easy as changing a URL.

Not sure why you think Anthropic has not the same problems? Their version numbers across different model lines jump around too... for Opus we have 4.6, 4.5, 4.1 then we have Sonnet at 4.6, 4.5, and 4.1? No version 4.1 here, and there is Haiku, no 4.6, but 4.5 and no 4.1, no 4 but then we only have old 3.5...

Also their pricing based on 5m/1h cache hits, cash read hits, additional charges for US inference (but only for Opus 4.6 I guess) and optional features such as more context and faster speed for some random multiplier is also complex and actually quiet similar to OpenAI's pricing scheme.

To me it looks like everybody has similar problems and solutions for the same kinds of problems and they just try their best to offer different products and services to their customers.

> Google essentially only has Preview models.

It's really nice to see Google get back to its roots by launching things only to "beta" and then leaving them there for years. Gmail was "beta" for at least five years, I think.

> OpenAI now has three price points: GPT 5.1, GPT 5.2 and now GPT 5.4.

I guess that's true, but geared towards API users.

Personally, since "Pro Mode" became available, I've been on the plan that enables that, and it's one price point and I get access to everything, including enough usage for codex that someone who spends a lot of time programming, never manage to hit any usage limits although I've gotten close once to the new (temporary) Spark limits.

Incredibly curious how Google's approach to support, naming, versioning etc will mesh with the iOS integration.

Wow, is that what preview means? I see those model options in github copilot (all my org allows right now) - I was under the impression that preview means a free trial or a limited # of queries. Kind of a misleading name..

I mean, Google notoriously discontinues even non-beta software, so if your concern is that there's insurance that the model doesn't get discontinued, then you may as well just use whatever you want since GA could also get discontinued.

They aggressively retire models, so GPT 5.1 and 5.2 are probably going to go soon.

two great problems in computing

naming things

cache invalidation

off by one errors

There is a lot of opportunity here for the AI infrastructure layer on top of tier-1 model providers

thats how they had it for years, is a mess, but controlled