Vals AI: four of seven frontier models keep 80%+ scores at lowest reasoning effort for half the cost
ZacharyHuang12 · x · 2026-11-05
Eval firm Vals AI tested seven frontier models across three reasoning-effort levels on the Vals Index. Four models retained at least 80% of their performance at the lowest setting, at half the cost or less. A chart shows Gemini 4 Argon among the models compared across LOW/MEDIUM/HIGH settings. Practical takeaway: for most tasks, max reasoning effort is unnecessary — low settings get you near-identical results for roughly half the price. Full blog post linked in the thread.
Related event: Vals AI Finds Low Reasoning Effort Retains 80% Performance at Half the Cost(2 posts)→
More from Models
- Sam Altman resurfaces ahead of rumored big OpenAI drop on Thursday — iruletheworldmo · 2026-11-05
- Epoch AI rebuilds its ECI with Bayesian methodology for sharper model comparisons — scaling01 · 2026-11-05
- Bittensor subnet to release ChronoLLM-16B, claiming lead in point-in-time financial LLMs — const_reborn · 2026-11-05
- Epoch AI now gives probabilistic model matchups: Astra 72% likely above Opus 5.5 — teortaxesTex · 2026-11-05
- OpenAI quietly built a hidden ChatGPT shopping mall that mines Gmail for coupons — ryanmerket · 2026-11-05
- Ripple claims frontier-level open-weight model trained in 32 minutes at one-tenth cost — annadgoldie · 2026-11-05