Simon Willison comments on EmbeddingGemma 2, noting its Apache 2.0 license and expressing preference for open‑weight models over proprietary, hosted‑only options. He argues that embedding models are often used to generate and store large numbers of vectors, and a closed model could force costly re‑embedding if the vendor discontinues service. Willison prefers a hosted solution that allows him to switch to the open‑weight version if needed.
The release of llm 0.33 introduces several key updates: it upgrades to the OpenAI Python library 3.x and switches the HTTP client from httpx to httpx2, adds comprehensive key handling for embedding functions, allows repeated template usage to combine configurations, and adds a reasoning_summary option for reasoning-capable responses. These changes improve compatibility, flexibility, and usability of the llm tool.
OpenRouter advertises automatic fallback and cost‑effective routing to the best backend provider for a single API endpoint. However, Mohamed Moustafa highlights that different providers use varied serving software, optimizations, and capabilities, leading to inconsistent behavior across the same endpoint. Users can mitigate this by specifying a provider with the provider.only option and checking available providers via the /endpoints method.
My hypothesis is that there is a new opportunity for Extensible Software on the web . LLMs radically lower the cost of authoring extensions, and modern sandbox primitives lower the deployment cost and provide good security boundaries.
Release: llm-openrouter 0. 7 Now that this plugin is compatible with LLM 0.
DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (on OpenRouter) The latest DeepSeek Pro model is now available, via API only. I had to link to OpenRouter because DeepSeek don't have any obvious announcement page for their new model.
My comment on We just shipped support for the ugliest part of HTTP: Vary — Hacker News.I've been wanting this from Cloudflare for years. The classic problem here is if you do that thing where us...
Release: llm 0. 32.
Simon Willison comments on GPT 6.1‑Sol, describing it as "Near‑Astra intelligence for a fifth of the price." He notes that the model’s pelican illustrations are similar to those of the GPT‑6 family and provides links to the live‑blog of the keynote and to the pelican images. The post is tagged with AI, OpenAI, generative‑AI, LLMs, and playful references to pelican‑riding‑a‑bicycle.
Simon Willison has released the September edition of his sponsors‑only monthly newsletter. The issue covers new Fable class models, a pricing war, 3D graphics with Blender and pixel art, LLMs applied to mathematics, accidental cyberattacks, the vulnapocalypse affecting Datasette, his current tools, and software releases for 2026. Sponsors can access the full newsletter for $10/month, with an August preview available for free.
Simon Willison is live‑blogging the OpenAI DevDay event in Fort Mason, San Francisco, covering the keynote and other highlights. He received a free ticket and a seat in the "creator" area for the keynote. The blog will include notes from the day’s sessions.