It's all too easy to forget

In the era of AI, where memory is held in config files and context is wiped from one session to the next, will we dare to remember?

On May 13, Anthropic announced that the Claude Agent SDK, claude -p, and third-party apps would no longer draw from the subscription's allocation of tokens, but instead from a separate pool of API credit.

Couched as a "bonus allocation," the reality was starkly different. Away From Keyboard (AFK) token usage, previously included in the heavily subsidised subscription plans, was now to be charged directly to the user (albeit with a small top-up to sweeten the pill). This was made worse by the fact that AFK tends to be more token-hungry, since there's no one on hand to tell the agent when it's full.

Experimenting with AFK, I found that my API token allocation was exhausted in two and a half prompts, roughly two GitHub issues. The half was the most irksome part, like an episode ending with a cliff-hanger on free-to-air TV: do I really need to wait for the next instalment?

The reaction was as predictable as it was swift. Developers started looking elsewhere for their agent fix, rewriting workflows built around Claude; business owners started eyeing their budgets, red pen in hand. Then, suddenly, on June 15 — the day the update was scheduled to take effect — Anthropic issued a retraction, or more accurately, a "pause" on the pricing changes. Whether the suspension of access to Fable 5 for non-US nationals just four days earlier was in any way related, we can only speculate.

A collective sigh went up. But it's what happens next that interests me most. Will we keep pursuing other options — the Kimi Code tab remains tantalisingly open in my browser — or will we do what humans and computers do best, and forget? Too torpid to follow through: AFK transitions to Absent Without Leave (AWOL) its natural resting state.

I guess we'll have to pause here to find out.