Opus 5.5 is 40% cheaper, but update forced tool calls before switching

Anthropic released Claude Opus 5.5, which the company says is 40% cheaper and over 30% faster than Opus 5. Vercel warns that requests forcing a tool call or fixing a thinking budget now return errors, so harness code needs changes before switching. The release is accompanied by reports of OpenAI's GPT-6 Sol and GPT-6 Luna models priced 50% below GPT-5.6 and Epoch AI data showing performance-adjusted AI costs falling about 47% per quarter since 2023.

Anthropic released Claude Opus 5.5, which it says is 40% cheaper and over 30% faster than Opus 5. Vercel warns that requests forcing a tool call or fixing a thinking budget now return errors, so harness code needs changes first. Read: Anthropic released Claude Opus 5.5, which it says is 40% cheaper and over 30% faster than Opus 5. Vercel warns that requests forcing a tool call or fixing a thinking budget now return errors, so harness code needs changes first. Read: OpenAI released GPT-6 Sol and GPT-6 Luna, faster and cheaper models built on GPT-6 Astra, with API prices 50% below GPT-5.6. Independent tests show cost per task roughly halved while intelligence scores held flat. Read: Epoch AI expanded its dataset to 222 models across 11 benchmarks and estimates performance-adjusted AI costs have fallen about 47% per quarter since 2023, faster than DNA sequencing, compute, or batteries ever did. Read: A researcher asked Meta's Muse agent to archive its runtime filesystem and received 6.8GB, including internal instruction files, memory logs, 113 subagent traces, and SSH key files. It was reported through Meta's bug bounty. Read: A UBC-led study of 35,000+ programs found demographic persona markers leak into up to 65% of responses and affect correctness and security. A 30.73M-generation Los Alamos audit found occupation cues shift code style most consistently. Read: A new paper measured error correlation across ten LLM judges and found the panel worth about 3.5 independent judges. Shared errors flipped conclusions in up to 28% of model comparisons. Read: A researcher reports GPT-6 Astra broke WWII Enigma message MVUEH, unsolved since 2005, by writing its own Enigma simulator and Bombe software and finding a usable crib without help.