Cost-per-Task Over Cost-per-Token

Anthropic's inverted model-selection default: start with the most capable model and dial effort down — a stronger model takes fewer turns, so cost-per-task falls even as price-per-token rises; plus Cursor's four-mix production measurement, Writer's harness swap (orchestration outweighs the model menu), and Databricks' bench where an open-weight model is cheapest at tied quality.