Ask HN: Will AI LLMs for coding get smarter and cheaper in the future?
A user on Hacker News asks whether AI LLMs for coding will become both smarter and cheaper in the future, sparking discussion on the trajectory of AI coding tools, expected improvements in model capabilities, and potential cost reductions.
Background
- This is a discussion thread on Hacker News (HN), a tech-focused social news site where engineers and founders debate technology trends. "Ask HN" means a user is posing a question to the community.
- The user is asking whether large language models (LLMs) used for coding — like GitHub Copilot, Claude, or GPT-based code tools — will continue to improve in capability ("smarter") while also becoming less expensive ("cheaper").
- This touches on a central debate in AI: scaling laws (bigger models + more data = better performance) vs. the efficiency turn (smaller, specialized models and inference optimizations that cut costs). The answer affects which tools developers adopt and how software companies budget for AI.
- Recent history: coding LLMs have rapidly progressed from autocomplete helpers to agents that can scaffold entire projects, but costs per query remain significant for advanced models. Competition between OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and open-source alternatives is driving prices down.
Max Weinbach says he had early access to OpenAI's new model GPT-5.6 Sol, calling it his favorite model by far. He highlights that it never gives up and will keep reasoning until it's done. OpenAI announced that GPT-5.6 Sol, along with Terra and Luna, will launch publicly on Thursday, with preview access expanding globally now.
The US government ordered Anthropic to suspend access to its Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models for all customers, citing a potential jailbreak technique that involved asking the model to review a codebase for vulnerabilities—a capability Anthropic says is available in other public models. Access was abruptly cut off on June 12.
Andrej Karpathy announces the release of Claude Fable 5, the same underlying model as Mythos but with added safeguards. He calls it a major step forward, particularly for long problem-solving sessions on difficult tasks, and describes it as state-of-the-art on nearly all benchmarks with exceptional performance in software engineering, research, and vision.
Roman Storm warns that the legal theory in his case could set a precedent making open-source developers liable for how others use their code, potentially criminalizing the mere publication of privacy, messaging, or crypto tools. He notes that developer Michael Lewellen cannot publish lawful code due to prosecution fears, and argues this chilling effect extends beyond any single case.
Meta's engineering culture is deteriorating under Mark Zuckerberg and Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang, who have introduced keyboard tracking, reassignments to data labeling, and AI-centric performance metrics. Critics argue this incentivizes performative AI use, drives away experienced engineers, and contributed to a major Instagram hijacking incident caused by AI-written and AI-reviewed code.