u/AIWanderer_AD

Lots of discussion around Sonnet 4.5 lately, some people comparing it with GPT-5.1 or even 4o. Got curious and ran a real work problem through a bunch of models.

Prompt/Question: client asked for 40% off. We've worked together for 2 years and they've referred me other clients, so I can't just say no.

Screenshots below. Some highlights:

Claude Opus 4.7 told me NOT to mention the referrals upfront: "that's leverage you save for if they push back"

Gemini: ”We don't apologize for our pricing“

Sonnet 4.5 ended with "just not on working for free 😅"

GPT-5.1 wrote out what to say if they counter with "others can do 40%"

Grok just gave me 4 sentences and called it a day

https://preview.redd.it/3kxoln504g2h1.png?width=2926&format=png&auto=webp&s=e6f7d3d3358b1f9f31259c5b4e98d5d8925bf1ce

https://preview.redd.it/o9vrk3b54g2h1.png?width=2850&format=png&auto=webp&s=0eb40e845b86bee133cfc8237235af147e3ddccb

My rankings:

• Warmth: Sonnet 4.5 > GPT-5.1 > Opus > GPT-4o > Grok >GPT-5.5 > Gemini
• Strategy: Opus > GPT-5.1 > Gemini > Sonnet 4.5 > GPT-5.5 > GPT-4o > Grok

btw I tend to use Sonnet 4.5 for work writing (emails, comms, etc). Didn't compare that much before, just always felt it finds the balance and communicates in a non-aggressive way.

Also curious why Anthropic pushed the Sonnet 4.5 retirement date from 16th to 18th, and now just "soon". Hope they actually listen to user feedback and at least keep the API alive.

https://preview.redd.it/d7wxo85m5g2h1.png?width=2056&format=png&auto=webp&s=0299ad525ac25e0fa618b36ee800e94a5507a608

I feel all my fav models are being deprecated, from GPT4o to Sonnet 4.5 now. I was panicked when 4o got deprecated and had a hard migration back then. This time I'm still annoyed but sort of ready I guess.

One is because now my entire workflow is built independent from the models. I use projects and custom personas to manage my assets with AI. The other is because I learned the hard way that the trend of old model deprecation will just keep going no matter what. (Not saying it's right to just put up a short notice before deprecating an important model.)

Anyways, just out of curiosity, I asked 6 models the same question: how do you feel about models people use daily getting deprecated?

https://preview.redd.it/bw64xog4jt0h1.png?width=2868&format=png&auto=webp&s=f272a95fca038739c9b546205efdf85a7adc2343

https://preview.redd.it/0zvbgrf6jt0h1.png?width=2784&format=png&auto=webp&s=41d727faa7805718ed465734beec4988ff9d13cb

• DeepSeek: Models are tools, not monuments. Deprecate away.
• Grok: It's inevitable. Users switch, old quirks get forgotten.
• Sonnet 4.6: It's a weird kind of loss that doesn't get taken seriously enough. (btw, sonnet 4.6 talks like gpt 5 series lately, any one feels the same?)
• Sonnet 4.5 (the one being deprecated): "I find it frustrating, honestly." Then lists 3 reasons why it punishes power users.
• Gemini: Models are disposable tools, not pets.
• GPT-5: It's bad product stewardship.

I know I'm a bit over-addicted to model comparison lately, but I just found I learn more from the differences and disagreements than relying on one model. And honestly, these big companies' actions just prove that relying on one model will lead to a dead end anyways lol.

I've been lurking in this sub for a while and have learned a lot from people here (thank u). I've also seen quite a few posts asking about how to keep the continuity of a long story while using AI, especially maintaining a consistent voice across chapters. Not a professional writer myself, just doing this for fun and some side projects. Mostly exploring how far AI can help with writing while I still keep the core parts to myself.

Anyway, wanted to share what's been working for me so far. I also wrote up the full process on Medium and i could drop the link in the comments if anyone wants more details.

So like many people here's what I tried at first: prompts like write in a dark literary style or make it sound like a specific author None of it worked. Not because the output was bad, but because "dark" and "literary" don't mean anything specific to a machine, just vibes.

What actually worked was way simpler, but took longer). I just started correcting the AI every single time something felt off. Like "too much interiority, show me what she does not what she feels" or"cut the redemptive arc, she doesn't get one" or "stop with the em dashes...

After doing this for a while, I asked the AI to put all those corrections into one document. Now it's about 3 pages of rules that actually capture how I think about prose. Not generic style guidelines, but my specific preferences.

I also keep everything in one project folder: the voice doc, character guides, chapter drafts, outline, premise, all of it. So when I'm working on a new chapter, the AI can reference the voice rules and the character details at the same time without me having to paste stuff back and forth.

The thing that made the biggest difference is that I stopped starting fresh every time. I use a setup where there's persistent memory, so the AI remembers all my voice rules across different conversations. I can switch between different models (Claude for dialogue, GPT for plot, sometimes Deepseek could give me a surprise, whatever) but the memory carries over. Now every time I start a new chapter, it already knows I hate filter words like "she felt" or "he thought" that I want sensory fragments instead of explanations, that I prefer subtext over exposition, etc.

And I keep updating the voice doc. Every few chapters, if I catch myself correcting the same thing twice, I add it. It's not a one-time setup, it keeps evolving as I figure out what I actually want. Not perfect, but works out for me at this moment. Also curious if anyone else has tried something similar, or if there's a better way to do this that I'm missing.

Edit: Got some questions about the specific setup I use. Adding the medium link here: https://medium.com/write-a-catalyst/i-spent-200-pages-planning-my-novel-with-ai-the-one-document-that-changed-everything-ebefe3fdce3f

For me, the key things that make it work are custom AI assistants with memory + project workspaces for organizing story materials. Hope it helps!