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October 25, 2026

Pondero Brief: OpenAI's Decisions API is GA, and cache writes can raise your bill

Pondero Brief - OCTOBER 25TH, 2026

Plus: same model, different coding-agent harness, up to 3x the cost per task.
pondero. BRIEF · OCT 25

The Decisions API's headline rate is only half the real bill.

OpenAI's Decisions API left beta Oct 22 at $0.10 per 1M input tokens, per OpenAI, but new cache writes can make calls cost more. See the real cost math, and when Structured Outputs is the cheaper call.

Also in today's brief

  • What made OpenAI copy Anthropic's training playbook
  • Same AI model, wildly different hosting cost
  • Your Gemini chats just got more visible
  • Microsoft Teams is reading between the lines now
 
Tools & How-To
Your coding-agent harness can triple the bill

Your coding-agent harness can triple the bill.

Shandong University researchers found harness choice alone swung SWE-bench cost up to 3x for the same model, with success within two points. See how Claude Code, OpenCode and mini-SWE-agent compared.

 
Gemini chats are now discoverable in Google Vault

Gemini chats are now discoverable in Google Vault.

Workspace admins can filter and export users' Gemini conversations in Vault for legal and compliance review, per Google Workspace Updates. See what Vault exports and what is still missing.

 
Teams phishing checks move past links

Teams phishing checks move past links.

Teams will score the conversation in first-contact external chats for phishing and impersonation, reaching GA in November 2026, per a Microsoft 365 message center notice. See what Teams can now catch.

 
Policy & Legal
OpenAI pulls frontier training off the live internet

OpenAI pulls frontier training off the live internet.

Future OpenAI models will train on cached and simulated web content, per OpenAI's blog, two weeks after Anthropic cut live access from its internal evaluations. Read the agent incidents that forced the switch.

 

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Jonathan Hildebrandt Jonathan Hildebrandt
Co-founder and primary operator of Pondero. Writes the Pondero Brief.

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