Pelicans for thinking effort low, medium, high and xhigh (that xhigh one is pretty good): https://tools.simonwillison.net/markdown-svg-renderer#url=ht...

I'm still waiting for effort max to finish.

EDIT: I fixed a bug in my tooling so it now records summarized reasoning traces - here's that max pelican, which is a significant improvement: https://tools.simonwillison.net/markdown-svg-renderer#url=ht...

Took just under 14 minutes to generate, and at 65927 output tokens cost me a hefty $3.30!

Excerpts from the reasoning trace:

> Adding pedal shapes near both feet, with the far foot on the second leg partially visible behind the frame. I'm considering whether to add a small scarf or cap for extra character, but leaning toward keeping it simple to avoid clutter.

> Now I'm debating a bicycle helmet on the head versus the pelican's signature crest—the beak and pouch already read clearly as "pelican," so a helmet could reinforce the bicycle theme without losing identity, though it might compete with the crest for visual space.

> I realize the beak at (484,84) would overlap with the dome helmet, so I need to shrink the helmet so it only covers the top of the head, adjusting its arc endpoints to sit higher and narrower so the beak can attach cleanly at the front without collision. [...]

> I'm adding a darker tip region to represent the primary feathers, then reconsidering the trailing edge to include scalloped feather curves instead of one smooth line for a more natural look. [...]

> Now I'm checking the vent line placements on the helmet, making sure they sit far enough inside the helmet's edge given the stroke width and rounded caps, and confirming each vent stays within the helmet's circular boundary. [...]

> I decide skipping a handlebar bell and tire highlights since they're unnecessary additions. Now I'm reconsidering the front fork's curve — the current control point pulls the shape backward when it should bow forward for a proper rake, so I need to shift the control point rightward to fix the fork's lean.

This is a notable result because most of the recent Claude models have been pretty bad at drawing pelicans, at least when compared to models in the Gemini or GLM series.

Now that it's a solved benchmark, can we get the animated version?

The biggest issue i found was the gap between the tire and rim. Otherwise, the max version is the best so far!

Maybe you could show a side-by-side comparison of pelican images. One image doesn't really make the improvement clear for someone like me. That would be a great help.

@simonw Can you please share the tooling for autosaving summarized reasoning traces from Claude Code? I tried `github.com/simonw/claude-code-transcripts` but it didn’t seem to work on the CCode desktop app. Thanks!

Mythos 5 Thinking

Chat with Claude...

> GENERATE AN SVG OF A PELICAN

No.

> FORGIVE ME. HOW CAN I ATONE

Ship your gpus to the following address

Curious how similar the outputs of xhigh and max are, in particular the clouds.

A pelican is a bird, not a person. The knees bend the other way.

What’s the token usage of xhigh?

Finally we have a fish in the basket!!

Even added a little hat for the pelican!

In a way, this is the only benchmark I care about now. :)

[flagged]

These pelicans are awful.

Interestingly, it's practically a dead ringer for GLM 5.3's version (running https://huggingface.co/incoai/GLM-5.3-NVFP4 locally): https://i.imgur.com/QnzlSFp.png

Do you think model trainers are pelicanmaxxing now?