AI labs raise prices without raising prices

The post argues that AI labs keep per-token prices unchanged while increasing output tokens per task, citing GPT Image 2.6 using 3.3x the output tokens of 2.5 on the same image and Anthropic's tokenizer change producing about 30% more tokens for the same text. It adds a November 9 update that Claude Fable 5.2 is cheaper per token than 5.1 ($8/$40 vs $10/$50 per million) but cost 3.4x as much on the same drawing, and that Opus 5.5 used 1.8x the output tokens of Opus 5 at xhigh. The author says Playcode keeps 2.5 as default and suggests comparing usage.output_tokens on the same prompt.