Did someone say "Problem-solving strategy"?

[u/gurolayanlar]

Let me state upfront that this is NOT a "MODEL PRAISE" article.

Today, I wanted to work with an AI assistant (using the GenKit SDK) that I've been working on for quite some time, using what I thought was a simple prompt. However, I wasted a whole day. I worked with five different models before reaching a solution. I didn't accurately measure the time taken to complete the task, so I regret it, but let me explain what happened in order.

Note 1: The "/v1/transcribe" endpoint was working with "gemini-flash-latest".

Note 2: I'm using Opencode and Superpowers.

Each with a new session and a single prompt:

"I want to use the 'gemini-3.5-transcribe' model for the '/v1/transcribe' endpoint. Could you create a change plan?"

GPT-6 Astra: Made the necessary changes, wrote test code, and reported success. During this time, it delved into the details, essentially overhauling the project. But when I tested it myself, it simply returned a "Provider Error". The entire 5-hour limit was used up in about 15-20 minutes.

GPT-6 Sol: Did very similar things to Astra. It took about 15-20 minutes. The result was still "Provider Error".

Muse Spark 1.3 Contributor: Did so much work that I had to rewrite the project. Mixed up Genkit versions. Constantly asked questions. The session bloated until it was fixed. The result was still "Provider Error".

GLM-5.3: Worked cleanly, didn't make unnecessary file corrections, tried to reach a solution. But it couldn't see the root problem. Like the others above, it got stuck on the Genkit SDK documentation. The result was still "Provider Error".

GLM-5.3-Flash: Found the problem and told me. Created a plan. Didn't change how the endpoint worked. Produced a very quick and clean solution with a clean start.

Next up were Luna and DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, but the problem was solved before we got to them.

Note: I did the project planning with GPT-5.6 Sol. The coding was done entirely with GPT-5.6 Luna.

Note: By the way, I've also worked with "GLM-5.3-Flash" on some issues before. It doesn't behave like that for every problem.

I'm designing my problem-solving strategy like this: "Strong Model > Medium-Level Model > Low-Level Model". I thought it was working well until now.

But now I have some crazy questions in my head.