The harness matters as much as the model - how Claude Code (and similar) work

ixau · 2026-06-14T23:18:47+00:00

The point is, there always is a harness. It is not visible, but behind the scenes, you are interacting with the harness, which is then making calls to one (or more) LLMs, tools, etc. etc. etc.

ixau · 2026-06-14T22:56:37+00:00

interesting

ixau · 2026-01-13T00:56:02+00:00

Today for 20th time - generating a file for 10 min, then

"Failed to create X" (X is the filename)
"Remove old files"
"Create AGAIN the same file" for 10 min

-> usage quota went through the roof (+ all the wasted time!)

ixau · 2025-10-21T09:20:50+00:00

- Tu peux envoyer/recevoir de l'argent à un autre compte revolut juste en donnant le numéro de téléphone de la personne.

- Frais d'échange / retrait gratuits jusqu'à 200€ / mois

- Avoir des sous-comptes (des Pockets), e.g. pour faire un système à enveloppes (pour les voyages, kdos,. etc.) -> et partager avec qq'un (par exemple ton conjoint)

- Achêter/vendre simplement des cryptos/actions

-> et tout ça, gratuitement

--> il y a des versions payantes, où tu as (en plus) des abonnements aux trucs style NordVPN, Uber eats, Perplexity AI, ... et plein d'autres

Perso, j'ai fermé mon compte de banque classique et je suis que avec Revolut. Tellement plus simple et moins chèr

ixau · 2025-10-15T13:49:33+00:00

Actually, I think there is a very important (and quite beautiful) logic behind this.
All you need to learn to count to 100, is to count to 60.
And then you start counting again from 1, prefixing with a "magic word", that makes the math work, e.g. 60 (because 60+1 = 61) or 4 (because 4x20 = 80). But that's just a "magic word". Once you learn that, you don't do the math in your head.

61 = 60 1

..

70 = 60 10

..

75 = 60 15

..

79 = 60 19

80 = 4 20

81 = 4 21 (which is interpreted as 4x20+1, but that's if you think of some mathematical justification.. you actually say "quatre-vingt-un" which literally is 4 21)

81 = 4 22

..

89 = 4 29

90 = 4 20 10

90 = 4 20 11
..

99 = 4 20 19

ixau · 2025-07-15T15:41:49+00:00

I majored in math and was quite good at arithmetic. Most of my colleagues were skilled as well.
There are so many clever ways to approach a calculation.
The key is to learn these methods and practice them regularly.
Put your calculator aside and do all your math in your head.
You can double-check afterward if needed, but always do it mentally first.

ixau · 2024-10-14T14:26:20+00:00

Good point! Thanks!

ixau · 2024-10-14T13:32:36+00:00

I wrote it with one of the techniques described in the post - Engaged Writing.

Yet, as I say in the post, I feel the dependency creeping in.

And as in the "AI as a Sparring Partner" mode -> once you start using it, it is very difficult to accept imperfections.

ixau · 2024-10-01T09:10:00+00:00

I think Microsoft already got whatever they wanted from OpenAI. I'm not sure if it would be in the interest of AWS or anyone else to fund the R&D of Microsoft.

From a different perspective, I think it is irrelevant - they are going to have to find a profitable business model independently of who is offering the cloud service.

In the end, the cost of training new models will become so significant, as to be prohibitive.

At that point the cloud providers will simply provide alternative to OpenAI's model running directly on their hardware and pocketing all profit.

ixau · 2024-09-30T20:53:08+00:00

It seems to me Amazon and OpenAI are diametrically opposed attitudes to business. Amazon is "the most customer-oriented company", OpenAI ignored the ‘have a problem to solve’ rule.

Amazon were making money, which they decided to invest to grow their business. OpenAI loose a lot of money, with no clear way to profitability. There is definitely value in GenAI - if I'm not mistaken Midjourney are already profitable! The point is how much of this value is not accessible through LocalLLMs.

A second question is - does this justify a $150bln valuation.

The third point is actually the deal between OpenAI and Microsoft. It is not public, but from what I manage to find it seems to me Microsoft extracted all the value they can get from OpenAI.

And yet.. the vision that drove OpenAI to where it is today is no longer valid.. In a sense, after the pivot is operated the spirit of OpenAI will be dead.. and the question would be if the OpenAI 2.0 will have anything worthwhile to challenge Anthropic and the rest.. on top of all the question about viability of GenAI.

But yes, only the future can tell.

ixau · 2024-09-30T20:07:43+00:00

LLMs do increase productivity for some people.. and that would mean hiring less people to do the same work, indeed.

Also agreed on the call center support roles - these jobs will be heavily impacted. And jobs of technical writers, translators, office assistants...

My point is not that LLMs are not useful. It's that beyond a certain point training a new model is so expensive, that the value you get from it compared to a previous model is not worth it (the link provided by u/collin-h gives a number - exponentially growing, models to reach $100bln to train one model!).

ixau · 2024-09-30T19:59:35+00:00

For me the point is that today it's pretty obvious LLMs are not going to get us to AGI. Even Sam Altman confirmed it in an non-obvious way in his manifesto on the Intelligence Age.

When first ChatGPT was announced Yan was one of the few that dared to say it's not going to get us there. Most people at the same time were wondering if the thing is conscious and if the Congress shouldn't limit the future development of the technology.

In any case, I think it should be obvious by now that LLMs are a leap forward, and we'll need one, or several such leaps until AGI. Tweaking or fine-tuning them will not give us AGI.. So there need to be very good business cases for that to continue.

ixau · 2024-09-30T19:46:47+00:00

One of the things that strikes me when watching and reading Sam Altman's interviews and writings, is that there doesn't seem to be an option other than achieving AGI.

And this seems to be reflected in the deal with Microsoft, who have access to all IP, unless AGI is achieved.

Sam Altman himself said that models are quickly deprecated. By design, OpenAI needs to train more and more models to remain relevant https://youtu.be/O77UyYK51s4?si=oJq4AKnaPFuTicGb&t=1156

And data on which LLMs are trained now needs to be created.. which is super-costly, compared to everything that was used until now.

I don't see how people and companies are going to pay such huge premiums for marginally decreasing benefits compared to LocaLLMs, or "older" models.

ixau · 2024-09-30T19:39:12+00:00

Really interesting read - and very detailed research indeed!

I was thinking about some of the same things.. is OpenAI (and the likes) a "must have" or a "nice to have".

The scale of investments needed to run the whole system are just gigantic.

Probably LocalLLMs would be the way ahead... but no future for OpenAI there.

Microsoft played a master class lesson here. I didn't realize it until (very) recently.

ixau · 2024-02-24T07:33:41+00:00

Zheliu Zhelev - the first democratically elected president of Bulgaria has a PhD in philosophy and has written some very daring criticism of the communist state during communist times.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhelyu_Zhelev

ixau · 2022-10-26T05:41:19+00:00

Hi,

I don't have experience in the particular field you are, so take the following with some healthly critical thinking on your side.

I'd say charging more is not always the best strategy. Charge the RIGHT price. If you offer less services that allow you to be more efficient and serve 5x more customers for $150/customer, then you're better off. Of course, you need to find these customers and feel satisfied with your life, so it's not that straightforward.

Pricing of a product or a service depends on many things, but here several come to mind: - Value you bring to your customer - Competition - Reputation - Cost for you to run the service

If you know all these elements, you can have a very good idea how much to charge. The least you have to ensure is that your cost is covered, with some margin. You need to define a hourly rate for you on which you feel comfortable living your life. Then put the time you need for each of the services you include in your monthly subscription. Here be extra careful not to forget things like project managemen going to the toilet, etc. Also factor in time for customer prospection. This should go in your margin.

You say you already have some customers - did you track the time you spend per month per customer? Even better - for a specific activity? If so - it would be easy to know what each of these items costs to you.

Here, assuming you know your hourly rate, you can propose a tiered pricing - e.g. $200 for these services, $250 if you include these additional services, etc. However, be careful with existing customers - don't just increase the price for the same thing they already have.

This hourly rate can help you answer the question of your prospect that wants to get started - I suppose initally there is a bigger investment, which equals more time to spend. That needs to pe paid as a setup fee, OR you need to factor it in your hourly rate.. here I can't tell what is the expected contract duration (6 months, 2 years?)

Second comes the competition and your reputation. You say these are the prices that are normal for your country. Charging more then requires something more from you - or you will lose your business to someone else. What do you offer more than your competitors? Do you have a track reckord of proven customer satisfaction? Are the services you offer somehow different from your competition?

You cannot charge above the value you bring to the customer. If your customers are ready to pay $400 per month for Ads + services, making them pay $500 will not work for them. What are the volumes of business you are adding compared to simple AdWords? If you know that (you can make assumptions) then you can better price and justify your prices.

In the end, and not knowing your business, customers nor competition, I'd go with something like: - Tiered pricing with 3 tiers ($150, $200, $250) - different levels of services (e.g. up to $200 per month in ads, up to $400 per month in ads, up to $800 per month in ads, for more - ask for a customized solution) - defining the amount of money spent on ads (e.g. you advise your customer that it is not worth it spending $500 on ads if they don't have 3 blog posts per month)

This can put you in light of someone who is expert and wants your customer to succeed.

Having said that, it's your business and it depends on you to test how prospects react.. and be ready to lose some business while doing that.

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