{
  "schema": "aic.claude-task-economics-evidence/1",
  "checked_on": "2026-09-29",
  "status": "free_public_research_annotation",
  "published_on": "2026-10-04",
  "last_rechecked_on": "2026-10-04",
  "recheck_scope": "Sonnet 5.5 announcement and standard first-party API rate card; listed rates unchanged. The model, results and September 29 selected-clause review retain their original baseline. No new workload or issuer-cost measurement.",
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "sonnet-5-5-announcement",
      "url": "https://www.anthropic.com/claude-sonnet-5-5",
      "publication_date": "2026-09-28",
      "evidence_class": "vendor_claim",
      "observation": "Unchanged listed token rates versus Sonnet 5; lower task cost from fewer tokens in the company's tests.",
      "limit": "No independent benchmark or provider-cost inference."
    },
    {
      "id": "standard-api-pricing",
      "url": "https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/about-claude/pricing",
      "publication_date": null,
      "evidence_class": "public_rate_card",
      "scope": "Claude Sonnet 5.5 standard first-party global API pricing, USD per million tokens, as checked.",
      "usd_per_million_tokens": { "input": 2, "cacheRead": 0.2, "cacheWrite5m": 2.5, "cacheWrite1h": 4, "output": 10 },
      "limit": "Not a subscription, partner-platform tariff, negotiated invoice or supplier cost."
    },
    {
      "id": "cache-usage-definitions",
      "url": "https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/build-with-claude/prompt-caching",
      "publication_date": null,
      "evidence_class": "api_documentation",
      "observation": "Uncached input, cache creation and cache reads are separate usage categories; cache-creation duration fields subdivide the creation total.",
      "limit": "Normalize billable workflow totals without adding the same cached tokens twice."
    },
    {
      "id": "hardware-substitution-clause",
      "url": "https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2110365/000119312526395475/ck0002110365-ex10_25.htm",
      "evidence_class": "filed_redacted_agreement",
      "locator": "Order 8, including 8(c)",
      "observation": "Next-generation substitution uses a pricing process; lack of an agreed price after validation leaves the original specified procurement obligation.",
      "limit": "Selected-clause reading, with redacted parameters; not a free upgrade or evidence of an actual substitution."
    }
  ],
  "company_measurements_not_obtained": {
    "provider_variable_cash_cost_per_workflow": null,
    "acceptance_fraction_for_example_tasks": null,
    "qualified_workflow_capacity": null,
    "demand_elasticity": null,
    "issuer_gross_margin": null
  },
  "illustration": {
    "token_quantities_costs_acceptance_demand_capacity_and_cash": "hypothetical",
    "token_basket_scope": "Mean billable usage across every call and retry within a submitted workflow; no extra retry multiplier.",
    "zero_cache_writes": "An explicit warm-cache basket assumption, not a claim that caching never costs anything to establish or maintain.",
    "alternative_output_price_usd_per_million": 15,
    "alternative_price_status": "Counterfactual tariff for a pricing-frontier illustration; NOT Anthropic's announced or forecast price.",
    "outside_option": "The model also tests the efficient basket at the existing listed rate as a comparable alternative; this closes the fixed-volume old-offer pricing interval under the assumed costs.",
    "quality_criterion": "Held constant by assumption, not established by the vendor's benchmark scores.",
    "capacity": "Independent assumption; not obtained by multiplying a vendor speed claim.",
    "financial_output": "Contribution after stated cash costs, not issuer profit, free cash flow or loan capacity."
  }
}