Skepticism about claims of improved instruction following, noting that earlier models ignored instructions while 4.7 takes them too literally, requiring prompt re-tuning
While developers acknowledge that newer models like Opus 4.7 have moved away from ignoring instructions, many find the shift toward extreme literalism creates a frustrating "genie in a bottle" effect that often overrides common sense. This hyper-literalism manifests in bizarre logic failures and a "diva-like" tendency to refuse complex tasks, forcing users to constantly babysit the AI or re-tune prompts to prevent context rot and over-engineered workarounds. Consequently, there is growing skepticism about these supposed improvements, with several users reporting that the models now require more manual guidance and repetitive reminders than the older versions they were meant to replace.
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