A Split Verdict on Fable vs. Astra

Hello, and happy Sunday. The models kept coming this week—Anthropic’s Fable 5.1 on Tuesday, OpenAI’s GPT-6 Astra on Thursday—and Katie Parrott compared the two in a report from our end-of-week camp for paid subscribers, where the team came away split. Between the releases, we kicked off our How We Write Now series with her guide to Compound Writing, her system for writing with AI, adapted from Kieran Klaassen’s Compound Engineering. As the tools accumulate, so does the question of how to learn them. Natalia Quintero delivered a report on Anthropic’s certification training that 10 Every staffers completed. We’ll be back in your inbox on Tuesday, September 8.—Kate Lee

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Fable 5.1 vs. Astra: Where each came out ahead

A model can impress you with its output and still frustrate you as a collaborator. With Fable 5.1 and GPT-6 Astra both launching this week, choosing between them means getting specific about what you want a model to do—and how you want to work with it.

At our latest subscriber-only camp, we compared the two mega-models’ work side by side. As Dan Shipper noted, those comparisons help us articulate our standards for good work. A prettier app might lose to one that needs fewer clicks. A stronger draft might come from the model that’s harder to steer.

Here’s where each came out ahead: