Ask HN: What default model do you use and why?

kept by eddie sep 18

Hacker News users share and justify their preferred default AI models, citing factors like reasoning quality, cost, privacy, and task suitability.

How does AI impact skill formation?
A 2025 Anthropic study shows AI-assisted coding can reduce skill retention but 25% speed boost emerges when ignoring participants who manually retyped AI code.
also on GPT-4o, Anthropic, #productivity, #developer-tools
I Tried to Make AI Writing Sound Human by Banning AI Words Through logit_bias - Vincent Schmalbach
The author applied logit_bias to penalize AI‑common tokens, observing a roughly one‑third reduction in those words while sacrificing one acceptable rewrite out of eight.
also on GPT-4o, Anthropic, #ai, #developer-tools
Computer use is 45x More Expensive Than Structured APIs
Vision-based computer use agents are 45x more expensive and much slower than structured APIs for internal tools, requiring detailed walkthroughs to succeed.
also on Claude Sonnet, Anthropic, #ai, #developer-tools
What it feels like to work with Mythos - by Ethan Mollick
Ethan Mollick finds Claude 5 Fable (Mythos-class) is a major leap over prior models, capable of autonomously executing multi-hour projects, but shifts his role from wizard to patron as the AI's internal decision-making becomes a black box.
also on Claude Sonnet, #user-experience, #productivity, #ai, #developer-tools