Making a plan first helps weaker AI helpers, cuts costs for smarter ones

Having AI make a plan first helps weaker coding assistants get more answers right, but for stronger ones it mostly saves computer work and cost with little change in accuracy, a 17 September study shared on arXiv found. The test covered four systems on two coding exams, SWE-Bench Verified and Terminal-Bench 2.1, across 176 identical setups.