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[ARTICLE · art-136742] src=news.ycombinator.com ↗ pub= topic=large-language-models verified=true sentiment=↓ negative

Ask HN: Is Astra's writing starting to bother anyone else?

A Hacker News user complained that Astra's writing is "so… dense" that they have to "focus ten times as hard to actually understand anything it's trying to say," and said they are switching back to GPT-5.6 Sol. The user speculated the density stems from token-saving optimizations at OpenAI and Anthropic or from models getting "smarter." The Ask HN post drew 2 points and 1 comment.

by read1 min views1 publishedSep 22, 2026

As someone who pretty much only uses GPT models (due to how generous the limits are), I always felt like I’d dodged a bullet when people complained about Claude and its load-bearing Claude-isms. GPT models, up to 5.6 Sol, certainly had their own AI-isms, but they always wrote in a way that was easy for me to understand well.

But then Astra came in. I feel like I have to focus ten times as hard to actually understand anything it’s trying to say. The way it writes is just so… dense, as if it’s trying to pack as much information in as few tokens as possible, at the expense of readability.

I wonder if this is due to token-saving optimizations that both OpenAI and Anthropic are doing? Or if it’s just a natural consequence of models getting “smarter”?

Either way, I think I’m switching back to Sol.

Comments URL: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49797581](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49797581)

Points: 2

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