New models, not refinements on old models. You know what the OP was saying. Why the pedantry?

I don't think it's pedantry.

To what extent 4o is a new model or a refinement depends on:

a) technology

b) thresholds for what it means for a model to be "new"

Not naming.

We have no clue about what happens within the super-secretive ironically-named OpenAI. To me, it feels like a new model. To you, it feels like a refinement. Unless one of us has insider information, I'm not sure it's worth disputing. We have a difference of opinion, and likely, neither of us has anything to back it up.

Aren't 'new models' always technically just refinements of old models? isn't that the point?

refinements = faster, cheaper

new = better, new use cases