alt Hacker NewsReading the comments here drives home an industry wide problem with these tools: people are just using the latest and most expensive models because they can, and because they’re cargo-culting. This is perhaps the first time that software has had this kind of problem, and coders are not exactly demonstrating great discretionary decision making.
I’ve been using Anthropic models exclusively for the last month on a large, realistic codebase, and I can count the number of times I needed to use Opus on one hand. Most of the time, Haiku is fine. About 10% of the time I splurge for Sonnet, and honestly, even some of those are unnecessary.
Folks are complaining because they lost unlimited access to a Ferrari, when a bicycle is fine for 95% of trips.
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AI should decide the level of model needed, and fallback if it fails. It mostly is a UX problem. Why do I need to specify the level of model beforehand? Many problems don't allow decision pre-implementation.
I think it heavily depends on how you're using it. If you understand your codebase and you're using it like "build a function that does x in y file" then smaller/cheaper models are great. But if you're saying "hey build this relatively complex feature following the 30,000 foot view spec in this markdown doc" then Haiku doesn't work (unless your "complex feature" is just an api endpoint and some UI that consumes it).
I think the reason is two fold:
- If you pay for unlimited trips will you choose the Ferrari or the old VW? Both are waiting outside your door, ready to go.
- Providers that let you choose models don't really price much difference between lower class models. On my grandfathered Cursor plan I pay 1x request to use Composer 2 or 2x request to use Opus 4.6. Until the price is more differentiated so people can say "ok yes Opus is smarter, but paying 10x more when Haiku would do the same isn't worth it" it won't happen.
Claude Code doesn't have an option to use Opus 4.6 any more for me. It was great, but I guess now I have to use it half as much or upgrade my subscription again.
> people are just using the latest and most expensive models because they can, and because they’re cargo-culting. This is perhaps the first time that software has had this kind of problem, and coders are not exactly demonstrating great discretionary decision making.
> I’ve been using Anthropic models exclusively for the last month on a large, realistic codebase, and I can count the number of times I needed to use Opus on one hand. Most of the time, Haiku is fine. About 10% of the time I splurge for Sonnet, and honestly, even some of those are unnecessary.
You and I couldn't have more different experiences. Opus 4.7 on the max setting still gets lost and chokes on a lot of my tasks.
I switch to Sonnet for simpler tasks like refactoring where I can lay out all of the expectations in detail, but even with Opus 4.7 I can often go through my entire 5-hour credit limit just trying to get it to converge on a reasonable plan. This is in a medium size codebase.
For the people putting together simple web apps using Sonnet with a mix of Haiku might be fine, but we have a long way to go with LLMs before even the SOTA models are trustworthy for complex tasks.
Model selection for day to day tasks based on vibes is not very scientific. Micromanaging the model doesn't seem like a great idea when doing real professional work with professional goals/deadlines/pressures.
85% of my code tasking can be handled by either GLM or Sonnet. The truth of the matter is that most software isn't that complicated. Even more hilarious is that people were running Opus on their OpenClaw setups. I'm glad Anthropic kicked them to the curb.
> I’ve been using Anthropic models exclusively for the last month on a large, realistic codebase, and I can count the number of times I needed to use Opus on one hand. Most of the time, Haiku is fine. About 10% of the time I splurge for Sonnet, and honestly, even some of those are unnecessary.
I mean at some point some people learn...
I was doing Opus for nasty stuff or otherwise at most planning and then using Sonnet to execute.
Buuuuut I'm dealing with a lot of nonstandard use cases and/or sloppy codebases.
Also, at work, Haiku isn't an enabled model.
But also, if I or my employer are paying for premium requests, then they should be served appropriately.
As it stands this announcement smells of "We know our pricing was predatory and here is the rug pull."
My other lesser worry isn't that Opus 4.7 has a 7.5x multi, it's that the multiplier is quoted as an 'introductory' rate.
It is not that simple; companies retire old models. I wanted to use 5.1 Codex Max to save money and I could not on my subscription.
Haiku is complete crap compared to sonnet in GHCP. A basic task in Haiku takes 3 prompts with a lot of correction. 1 prompt in sonnet. It isn't worth a third of the price if I have to fix it twice.
> Most of the time, Haiku is fine.
Haiku is most definitely not fine for the code bases that I work on. Sonnet is probably fine for most daily tasks, but Opus is still needed to find that pesky bug you've been chasing, or to thoroughly review your PR.