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Articles by Robert Imbeault
Your Benchmark Should Make Your Engineers Uncomfortable
If a benchmark only gives marketing something nice to post, you are probably missing the useful part. The AI industry has a benchmark problem, not because we have too many benchmarks, but because we have become extremely good at turning them into trophies. Every week, another model reaches the top of another leaderboard. Another release is state of the art.
We Got 91% With Kimi. Repeatable 91% Is the Hard Part.
A peak score tells you what an AI system can do. Production cares about what it can do again tomorrow. We recently got 91% on Terminal-Bench 2.1 using Kimi K3. Tasks solved: 81/89 Total model cost: $28.72. This is the part where I am apparently supposed to put the number in very large type, add a trophy emoji, and move on. Unfortunately, we ran the experiment more than once. And Kimi does not score 91% every time. That is where the story gets much more interesting. 91% is a Result.
Same Claude. Different Harness. Very Different Result.
Claude didn’t get smarter. We changed everything around it. Somehow, 6.5 points appeared between them. We beat Claude Code with Claude. Which is a slightly ridiculous sentence, but it is also a useful one. We ran Backboard CLI on Terminal-Bench 2.1 using Claude Opus 4.8 through Amazon Bedrock. Claude Code, using the same model, had a published score of 78.9%. Our submitted result was 85.4% ± 0.8%. Same underlying model. Different system around it. A 6.5-point difference.
Your AI Has the Memory of a Goldfish. That’s an Architecture Choice.
Most AI assistants are extremely capable and remarkably forgetful. Give one a complicated problem, and it can reason through it. Come back tomorrow and, depending on the system around it, you may need to explain who you are, what you were doing, and why FINAL_v12_ACTUALLY_FINAL.pdf apparently matters again. The industry’s answer has mostly been to give the model an external memory. Store conversations somewhere else. Index them. Retrieve the relevant pieces later. Attach them to the next prompt.
AI Won’t Be Priced by Tokens Forever
Nobody wants to buy tokens. They want useful work, and eventually, AI will be priced that way too. Every new technology seems to begin by billing us for the thing engineers can measure most easily. Electricity gave us kilowatt-hours. Telecommunications gave us minutes. Cloud computing gave us CPUs, memory, storage, and bandwidth. AI has tokens. And right now, token pricing makes perfect sense, because tokens are measurable.
I Think Therefore I Am… A Big Pain in the A$$
If you’ve tried to build anything serious on top of LLMs recently, you’ve probably run into this: “Thinking” is supposed to make models better. In practice, it makes your infrastructure worse. Let’s break down where it actually hurts. The illusion of “just turn on reasoning” At a high level, you’d expect something simple: Turn reasoning on → better answers Turn reasoning off → cheaper, faster Reality is messier.
Why Token Counting in Multi-LLM Systems Is Harder Than You Think
When we set out to build our adaptive context window management component, we ran into a problem that sounds deceptively simple: how do you manage context windows when your system routes requests across multiple LLM providers? The Core Problem Each model has its own tokenizer, context window, and pricing rules. The same text is not "the same" across providers. OpenAI might count a prompt as 1,200 tokens; Claude might see it as 1,450.
Your Context Window Is Chaos. We Fixed It.
If you’re routing across multiple LLMs, you probably already know this feeling: One model happily accepts your massive conversation. The next model chokes, truncates half the important bits, and hallucinates the rest. Same app. Same user. Different context window. Chaos. Backboard.io now includes Adaptive Context Management, a system that automatically manages conversation state when your app moves between models with different context sizes. ps.
Learning To Teach Ourselves How To Learn
Home / Featured Content / Learning To Teach Ourselves How To Learn When I was in high school our main focus was to figure out what to do with the rest of our lives. We needed to learn skills that would be useful to get a job and eventually a career. Most of us had no idea, so evaluating what courses to study in college was overwhelming.
Success in Giving Others Credit
Home / Featured Content / Success in Giving Others Credit Getting credit is great when it’s deserved, but is it why we do things? In growing our business from 2 to 200+ people, the dynamics have changed dramatically. We try to hire the best and we often succeed, but we are still human. Our motivations shift, some get ambitious and some want to build empires, some want to be in control, and we all want credit for the work we’ve done or the ideas we’ve brought forward.
The Evils of Brain-Killing TV
Home / Featured Content / The Evils of Brain-Killing TV There is a growing sentiment around watching TV and for a long time, I was in that camp. I got rid of cable TV a decade ago proudly declaring my victory over the evils of the brain-killing activity. Of course, I wasn’t completely done with it. I still watched streaming or downloaded shows here and there. I did limit it however as I didn’t think it was productive and that’s all my life was about back then. Being productive.
Socially Awkward Drinking
Home / Featured Content / Socially Awkward Drinking I never really liked drinking, but I did like going out to clubs and having fun with friends. I enjoyed wine with dinners and sunny patios with a cocktail. Without fail it made me sick. Every time. If I was going out with friends I would assume I would drink enough to have to prepare for a day of recovery. The more pathetic part of this was that this was the case with everyone I went out with.
My 'Superfood' Diet
Most fad diets I’ve come across seem to be based on limiting what you eat. You may only eat X calories per day, cut the carbs, forget the fats, so long sugar, go away gluten, and Vegan means victory! OK, I took that too far. While all that sounds fun [sarcasm font] I decided to change my focus on what I should eat and not so much on what I shouldn’t.
Invest the Time in Yourself To Be Great
Home / Featured Content / Invest the Time in Yourself To Be Great Changing yourself is a long journey and it never ends. It can be difficult to stay on the path you set out for yourself to become the person you strive to be. The most powerful tool for me is in the morning regimen. I use the time I’ve given myself to step through my the ritual before I think about work or what I have to do that day. I don’t waiver from this commitment.
Nourish Your Body, Boost Your Immune System
Editor’s note: This article is based on the author’s personal experiences and is not intended to diagnose or treat any health condition. If you are experiencing any health concern, consult a licensed healthcare professional. — At a time when people are uncertain and afraid some scramble to find a magic pill or “hack” in their effort to best the pandemic at their doorstep. Sadly, companies have appeared out of the woodwork with their fantastical claims and promises.
I Just Wanted To Be Healthier
Home / Featured Content / I Just Wanted To Be Healthier When I found out my wife and I were expecting our first child, there were so many things I wanted to do. First and foremost I had to be healthier. I was pushing 210 lbs on a 5’8″ frame. It wasn’t good. I boxed for many years and kept my weight at around 165-170 lbs so getting up to this weight wasn’t exactly comfortable and sure as hell wasn’t healthy.
The Good Men Project
Home / Featured Content / Focus Focusing is about saying No. ~~ Steve Jobs We know that multitasking is not productive. We know it reduces the quality of what we’re trying to accomplish. So stop. Focus. Focus on the exercise you’re doing, the art you’re working on, the book you’re reading, the writing you’re doing, the conversation you’re having, the person in front of you. Focus when you are driving! Focus on the food you’re eating, the walk you’re taking, the fun you’re having.
How You Treat Your Staff Matters
Home / Featured Content / How You Treat Your Staff Matters I worked some retail jobs in my early twenties and I had a lot of fun working with them. They didn’t pay a lot, but I got to be more social and it really brought me out of my shell. Most of my teenage jobs I had before were in kitchens either washing dishes or cooking, but retail forced me to meet and interact with people every day. I worked at a few cafes and jean shops, but I made a home at Foot Locker.
Happiness Is A Simple, Not Easy Choice
Home / Featured Content / Happiness Is A Simple, Not Easy Choice “Happiness is a choice” It’s one of those statements people throw around pretty freely. I am one of those people. I absolutely believe that happiness is a choice. There’s a catch however. This isn’t a light switch you flip on and TADA! Happy! There’s much to it that we tend to not mention. Like anything else in our lives it takes action. It starts with the decision. We have to honestly, truly decide to be happy.
The Impact of Online Personas on Mental Health
Home / Featured Content / The Impact of Online Personas on Mental Health We all have different personas for the people we talk to. We don’t say the same things to our spouse that we would to our boss. We don’t say the same things to our kids that we would say to the cop that just pulled us over. We know our audience. It doesn’t necessarily make us insincere. I just makes us better communicators.
'If You’re Not Enough Without It, You’ll Never Be Enough With It'
Home / Featured Content / ‘If You’re Not Enough Without It, You’ll Never Be Enough With It’ In Jon Turteltaub‘s 1993 movie Cool Runnings, John Candy’s character Irv said, “A gold medal is a wonderful thing, but if you’re not enough without it, you’ll never be enough with it.” That quote has stuck with me since I first heard it twenty years ago. I grew up in a modest home and may have missed a meal here and there while I dreamed of being rich.
Counter-Punching Negative Thoughts
Home / Featured Content / Counter-Punching Negative Thoughts As I learn more about the power of placebo and the power the mind has over body I came up with a strategy for detailing with the sometimes upsetting thoughts. I’m not sure why it happens, but sometimes my brain just goes somewhere and I have to stop myself and wonder why the hell did I think that?
When Can I Call Myself an Artist?
Home / Featured Content / When Can I Call Myself an Artist? I love art. I paint, I write, I sometimes sculpt and draw. I’ve only taken it up the last couple of years and someone asked me if I considered myself an artist. I said I think so, but I wasn’t sure. Am I an artist? Can I call myself one even though I didn’t go to school for art and I don’t to it full time? What if I wanted to pursue being an artist full-time?
How To Choose Your Morning Mood
Home / Featured Content / How To Choose Your Morning Mood A close friend of mine told me a story about his wife having trouble with her mood in the morning. It got to the point where an arbitrary question turned into a fight with her stating “Just don’t talk to me! You know how I am in the morning,” to which my friend waited to respond. A few hours later he sent this response which he shared with me. “I love you so much and I’m so excited about our life and family. We need to figure this out.
Are We Cyborgs Already? Should We Change Our Education Strategy?
Home / Featured Content / Are We Cyborgs Already? Should We Change Our Education Strategy? Remember when the ringtone was the coolest feature on your phone? Remember when T9 was considered artificial intelligence? Perhaps I’m aging myself a little. The smartphone has come a long way. Thank you Captain Obvious. Being connected has not only had a major impact on how we communicate digitally but face to face as well. “I don’t know” has been replaced with “one minute I’ll check”.
Parenting a Baby 101
Home / Featured Content / Parenting a Baby 101 My weekend was spent in a two-day course called Bringing Baby Home. This is a class that teaches expecting parents about what to do once the baby is born and into the early years. We’re glad to have gone and we learned some great tips in some areas that were foggy to us.
My Daughter Pushing the Boundaries
Home / Featured Content / My Daughter Pushing the Boundaries I don’t mind waiting outside with my seventeen-month-old, Vivian, while my wife runs into a department store to find a sun hat. I enjoy watching Vivian explore even in a concrete parking lot. What she is attracted to most is not the open flat space where she can run fast and free, it’s the uneven steps, open cracks, and steep inclines. She seeks out the most challenging places to walk or climb then proceeds to take on the challenge.
When Can I Call Myself an Adult?
Home / Featured Content / When Can I Call Myself an Adult? I couldn’t adult on the adultingest day even if I had an electrified adulting machine. When will I grow up? I still feel like my life is just starting. I’m 44 years old and I’ve been waiting for that switch that turns on and I can call myself an adult. When I was a child I couldn’t wait to become an adult so I could enjoy the perks like staying up late, eating what I wanted to, and, of course, no more school.
Artistic Ability vs. Creativity
I have been painting for a few years now as somewhat of a hobby. I first started to paint after reading about its positive impacts on cognitive function and I wanted to do something more than just coming home only to continue working, or worse, watch TV. I never learned how to draw and I didn’t think I was any good at it. I certainly didn’t think I had any artistic ability, but I did feel that I was creative.
The Sexual Transgression of Celebrities
Home / Ethics & Values / The Sexual Transgression of Celebrities Is it me or has this month brought to us a higher than usual wave of celebrity sexual misconduct allegations? Are the media finally taking a break from the Trump buffoonery? Why have we become so enamoured with the deviant proclivities of the people we have placed so high? Moreover and more importantly what does it say about ourselves when the people we admire, elect, and even aspire to, conduct themselves this way?
7 Things I Learned Writing 30 Posts in 30 Days
Home / Featured Content / 7 Things I Learned Writing 30 Posts in 30 Days This wasn’t a New Years resolution as I don’t really do those, but I did happen to decide I would try to write a post every day for 30 days on New Year’s Eve. I did this for a few reasons. First, I wanted to build on the discipline of my morning routines. Second, writing in the morning is said to help build cognitive, creative, and even immune function. And third, for the experience of developing the art itself.
Instead of Being Busy, Be Valuable
Home / Featured Content / Instead of Being Busy, Be Valuable We live in a culture that celebrates being busy under the guise of being productive. We rush. We cheat ourselves from the value of the moment. We angle to find just the right vector to move forward in order to achieve the quickest solution. We hack. We undermine our path to mastery by pushing it farther away. We try to be too many things to too many others. We multitask.
Practical Meditation Instruction for Reducing Stress and Increasing Joy in Daily Life
Home / Featured Content / Practical Meditation Instruction for Reducing Stress and Increasing Joy in Daily Life Take a minute and breathe. Pay attention to it. Rest your shoulders, unclench your hands, and relax your jaw. Breathe. Feel that air coming in and out of your nose. Notice how it’s cooler going in than it is coming out. Repeat this a few times or even more if you want. Close your eyes and focus your attention at the air coming in and out of your nostrils. Go ahead, I’ll wait. Done?
Sensory Deprivation (AKA Floating): My Experience
Home / Featured Content / Sensory Deprivation (AKA Floating): My Experience I was curious about sensory deprivation tanks, or “floating” as they say here in LA so I found a place nearby and scheduled an appointment. Joe Rogan, who loves it, mentions it on his podcast and I did some research. A daily meditator I was looking to experience another level of self reflection but I also just like new experiences.
Surfing for the First Time With a Healthy Fear of Sharks!
Home / Featured Content / Surfing for the First Time With a Healthy Fear of Sharks! To give a bit of history I have never liked open water. Or lakes. Because lake-monsters. I believe the last time I was fully submerged in a lake was when a friend taught me how to wakeboard ten years ago. It was fun but I couldn’t get over the creepiness I felt about being in water where I couldn’t see beneath me. Did I mention lake-monsters? This is uncommon for people where I am from.
Fasting Mimicking Diet — My Experience - The Good Men Project
I first heard about the Fasting Mimicking Diet on the Rich Roll Podcast. I fast a couple of times a year for three or more days. I do it for a few reasons. There is evidence that fasting can thwart off any cancer forming in the body, can perpetuate cellular regeneration, and can be a healthy way to burn fat. I also like the psychological benefit of overcoming the challenge.
Obsession, Routine and Food: A Memoir
In ancient times of Before Daughter I enjoyed waking up at 4:38 AM for a ritualistic, borderline neurotic, two-hour regimen. That is all but gone now. Fortunately, I have adapted. No matter what time I wake with Miss Vivian, I start with a squeezed lemon in faucet temperature water. Some days, after a night of less than nutrient-dense food, I’ll add some activated charcoal, although I try not to use it more than once a week.
Always Be Reading!
Home / Learning / Always Be Reading! — He and my other partners read at an incredible/kind of alarming pace. I don’t think they sleep. I do think the message is important. I read every day and I have two or more books on the go at any given time. It’s a paramount component of lifelong learning, self-improvement and personal discipline. If we take just a little bit of time to read every day we will learn something new and learning something new is better than learning nothing.
Eating With Integrity Has Increased My Self Love
Home / Featured Content / Eating With Integrity Has Increased My Self Love When I made the transition to a vegan lifestyle I felt something click. My entire life I had been hiding behind the idea that we are just “supposed” to eat meat as my attitude was very much a product of my society. I just accepted that this is the way it was and to change would be too challenging to overcome. What is integrity? Is it not the ability to overcome great challenges in order to honour what you believe in?
What One Year of Meditation Has Done for Me
Home / Health & Wellness / What One Year of Meditation Has Done for Me It began with a simple app I found called Buddhify. It consists of five to ten minute guided meditations for wherever you are. There are meditations for just waking up, some for at work, surfing the internet, can’t sleep, and others. It’s a great tool for taking a few minutes throughout the day if you need to recharge.
Happiness Checklists Don’t Work
Home / Featured Content / Happiness Checklists Don’t Work I want someone tall, fit, good looking, dark hair, maybe light hair. They have to be smart, have a good job, likes art, someone my parents will like, someone my friends will like. They should be able to make me laugh, be ambitious, they should share my beliefs, be age-appropriate and really attractive. They should like the same food as I like, they should love animals, especially cats.
Digital Detox Weekend
Home / Featured Content / Digital Detox Weekend Like a lot of people I know, I’m attached to my phone. I know it’s around me 24/7 so I decided to take a short digital detox from it over the weekend. Recently, I have been slowly letting go of my near-obsessive quantified-self activities and I thought this would be a helpful step in that direction.
Your Personal Moral Line Is Powerful Because You Don’t Cross It
Home / Featured Content / Your Personal Moral Line Is Powerful Because You Don’t Cross It There’s a passage in Clayton Christensen’s book How Will You Measure Your Life. Christensen describes the time he played varsity basketball in high school. His team had done well and made it to the championships, but there was a problem. The big game was on a Sunday and he had made a promise to himself that he would keep the Sabbath and therefore couldn’t play.
The Honour of Fatherhood
Home / Families / The Honour of Fatherhood Picture, if you would, the worst break up of your life. The enduring, painful heartache. The paralyzing emotional trauma. Spinning into the realization that recovery becomes uncertainty. The sense that even though a tiny part of you, however small, might understand that it’s likely the right thing you still long for one more second of that closeness you felt. Now imagine this heartbreak washing over you like a tidal wave about every three hours or so.
Morning Coincidences and a Smile
Home / Featured Content / Morning Coincidences and a Smile There isn’t a lot of light at 5AM. My room was completely dark aside from the reflective glow coming from the open door down the hall. The spare room’s ensuite light is left on as a makeshift night-light for my wife who co-sleeps with our daughter. The co-sleeping affords me more sleep and to wake up alone which is both freeing and lonely. It also means my 5AM alarm doesn’t wake up my wife which in turn keeps me in a little bit safer.
Boxing: A Memoir
The boxing club’s head coach, Joe, is standing in my opponent’s corner. He’s giving instructions as much in hand gestures as he is verbal. I study every movement making note to avoid the particular combinations he’s demonstrating. If I can, I’ll avoid getting hit completely. My opponent is a heavyweight making him at least forty pounds and four weight classes heavier than I am. I’ll need to strike fast and get the hell out. Stick and move. Breathe. Stick and move. I hate this part.
'Will You Be My Girlfriend?' Escaped My Forty-Two-Year-Old Lips
Home / Featured Content / ‘Will You Be My Girlfriend?’ Escaped My Forty-Two-Year-Old Lips “You have to ask me.” I registered a degree of playfulness in her expression, but I knew Elmira was serious. “You can’t just assume we’re exclusive.” I stopped my head from shaking for fear of reprisal yet at the same time, an involuntary grin stretched across my face. “Will you be my girlfriend?” Escaped my forty-two-year-old lips. My heart inflated and thumped the inner wall of my chest plate.
Forget the Diet Wars and Try Common Sense
Note: This is a personal story and I am not a doctor. Although I am sincerely dedicated to learning about nutrition I’m getting tired of all the camps. As much I like him, I don’t want to hear about Joe Rogan shitting his pants on his carnivore diet or how people are slopping bacon fat on broccoli for their ketones or how we should eat like an early Homosapien whose life expectancy is thirty or which macronutrient is bad for us this week.
My Drug Addiction May Have Saved My Life
Home / Featured Content / My Drug Addiction May Have Saved My Life Author’s note: I am not a physician or researcher. I am only sharing my experience, which can be read both as a cautionary tale as well as advocacy, but I am not recommending any illegal drug use.
Why I Left The Company I Started
Home / Featured Content / Why I Left The Company I Started I could talk about the growing pressures of playing a tactical role in a startup that is skyrocketing at a meteoric pace. I could relay the stresses of answering to investors who have placed over $50M worth of trust in us. I could bring up the growing internal politics, silos, egos, and other challenges of a company about to pass three hundred employees. I am not leaving for any of these reasons. I happen to enjoy the people I work with.
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