Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index v4.2
Source: Hacker News ↗ (cross-verified by 2 outlets — full list below)
Anthropic’s Claude Fable 5.1 topped the newly released Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index v4.2, with OpenAI’s GPT‑6 Astra in close pursuit, registering a four‑point advantage over the previous‑generation GPT‑5.6 Sol. The updated index, rolled out as an interim upgrade ahead of the planned v5, introduces more demanding and realistic tasks, expands private held‑out test sets to curb gaming, and upgrades grading infrastructure for greater robustness. New benchmark components include AA‑Briefcase, an in‑house evaluation that subjects models to multi‑week, agentic knowledge‑work projects built by industry experts, and Surge AI’s GDP.pdf, which tests single‑turn professional document reasoning across 100 PDFs and ten domains, requiring synthesis of evidence from 4,592 pages and grading against 1,275 expert‑authored criteria.
The most consequential change in v4.2 is the doubling of private, held‑out test set weighting to 40 percent of the overall score, up from 20 percent in v4.1. This shift incorporates AA‑Briefcase, AA‑Omniscience, and CritPt solutions, markedly reducing the ability of labs to tailor models to public benchmarks. Additional refinements include a new grading system prompt in AA‑LCR v1.1, corrected answer‑key ambiguities, re‑anchored Elo scales for more stable ratings, and hardened grading sandboxes for SciCode to ensure slow but correct code is not penalized. These measures collectively aim to align the index more closely with real‑world use cases and to preserve its relevance amid rapid frontier advances.
Beyond the interim release, the organization signals ongoing work on Index v5, promising further incremental updates. Current leaderboards show Anthropic, OpenAI, Meta and Z.AI occupying the cost‑per‑task Pareto frontier, while GPT‑6 Astra leads the output‑token efficiency curve, outperforming most competitors near the intelligence frontier. In the AA‑Briefcase evaluation, Claude Fable 5.1 and Opus 5 remain ahead, with GPT‑6 Astra and Muse Spark 1.3 trailing. In the GDP.pdf test, GPT‑6 Astra achieved a 33.2 % all‑pass rate, surpassing GPT‑5.6 Sol’s 28.2 % and Claude Fable 5.1’s 26.2 %. The updates position the Index as a more stringent, real‑world‑oriented metric as the AI landscape continues to evolve rapidly.
⚡ Effects Interpreter
🌍World Economylow impact
What this means for you
- ▶Export-heavy economies may see demand wobble as buyers wait and watch.
- ▶Cross-border money flows can subtly change direction after events like this.
🏙️Local Economymedium impact
What this means for you
- ▶The high street usually mirrors big-picture shifts, just a touch later.
- ▶Your local economy has a way of catching these currents eventually.
🏦Rates & Bankslow impact
What this means for you
- ▶Mortgage offers could firm up or soften as the picture becomes clearer.
- ▶Fixed and variable borrowers alike could want to keep half an eye on this.
❤️Healthlow impact
What this means for you
- ▶Local health services could get busier depending on how things develop.
- ▶Stress levels in affected communities might tick up before they settle.
💷Wealthmedium impact
What this means for you
- ▶Long-term savers usually ride out these slight bumps just fine.
- ▶Diversified savings usually cushion the blow from stories like this.
🏠Housingmedium impact
What this means for you
- ▶A cooling or warming market usually takes months to fully show up in prices.
- ▶Landlords and tenants alike rarely feel sudden shifts from a story like this.
🌍 Effects for your country
The U.S.'s central bank rate currently stands at 3.75%, so a global rates move like this could feed through to local borrowing costs. The U.S.'s economy is growing at 2.3% with inflation at 3.2%, the backdrop this story's effects play out against locally. Housing-market effects like this are usually felt most where mortgage rates track the U.S.'s own central bank rate closely. With the U.S.'s unemployment at 4.4%, personal-finance effects like this land on a labour market that is currently fairly stable. Health-system effects are harder to localise from economic indicators alone — the real impact in the U.S. depends more on local healthcare capacity than the figures above.
The UK's central bank rate currently stands at 3.75%, so a global rates move like this could feed through to local borrowing costs. The UK's economy is growing at 0.8% with inflation at 3.2%, the backdrop this story's effects play out against locally. Housing-market effects like this are usually felt most where mortgage rates track the UK's own central bank rate closely. With the UK's unemployment at 5.6%, personal-finance effects like this land on a labour market that is currently fairly stable. Health-system effects are harder to localise from economic indicators alone — the real impact in the UK depends more on local healthcare capacity than the figures above.
France's central bank rate currently stands at 2%, so a global rates move like this could feed through to local borrowing costs. France's economy is growing at 0.9% with inflation at 1.8%, the backdrop this story's effects play out against locally. Housing-market effects like this are usually felt most where mortgage rates track France's own central bank rate closely. With France's unemployment at 7.9%, personal-finance effects like this land on a labour market that is already under strain. Health-system effects are harder to localise from economic indicators alone — the real impact in France depends more on local healthcare capacity than the figures above.
Romania's central bank rate currently stands at 6.5%, so a global rates move like this could feed through to local borrowing costs. Romania's economy is growing at 0.7% with inflation at 7.8%, the backdrop this story's effects play out against locally. Housing-market effects like this are usually felt most where mortgage rates track Romania's own central bank rate closely. With Romania's unemployment at 6%, personal-finance effects like this land on a labour market that is currently fairly stable. Health-system effects are harder to localise from economic indicators alone — the real impact in Romania depends more on local healthcare capacity than the figures above.
The UAE's central bank rate currently stands at 3.65%, so a global rates move like this could feed through to local borrowing costs. The UAE's economy is growing at 3.1% with inflation at 2.5%, the backdrop this story's effects play out against locally. Housing-market effects like this are usually felt most where mortgage rates track the UAE's own central bank rate closely. Health-system effects are harder to localise from economic indicators alone — the real impact in the UAE depends more on local healthcare capacity than the figures above.