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AI IntelligenceOct 29, 2026Practical Tip
Article

Ted Sanders says LLM performance is multidimensional, but much variation is explained by model size

Bigger models are generally more performant/reliable, cost more per token, and have better recall of esoteric facts.

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AI-generatedSource: Simon Willison
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Source Brief

Ted Sanders says LLM performance is multidimensional, but much variation is explained by model size: bigger models are generally more performant/reliable, cost more per token, and have better recall of esoteric facts.

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Practical Tip

When choosing a model, treat size as a rough proxy: expect larger models to be more reliable and better at esoteric recall but costlier per token, so match model size to task difficulty and budget.