> I don’t understand why we are getting these software products that want to have vendor lock in when the underlying system isn’t being improved.

I think it's clear now that the pace of model improvements is asymptotic (or at least it's reached a local maxima) and the model itself provides no moat. (Every few weeks last year, the perception of "the best model" changed, based on basically nothing other than random vibes and hearsay.)

As a result, the labs are starting to focus on vertical integration (that is, building up the product stack) to deepen their moat.

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anematode an hour ago | parent [-]

> I think it's clear now that the pace of model improvements is asymptotic

As much as I wish it were, I don't think this is clear at all... it's only been a couple months since Opus 4.5, after all, which many developers state was a major change compared to previous models.

	▲	nkohari an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Like I said, lots of vibes and hearsay! :) The models are definitely continuing to improve; it's more of a question of whether we're reaching diminishing returns. It might make sense to spend $X billion to train a new model that's 100% better, but it makes much less sense to spend $X0 billion to train a new model that's 10% better. (Numbers all made up, obviously.)