En DashHotdogBenchmark

Hotdog Benchmark

The Taco Boundary

Edition
Week 44, 2026
Published
October 26, 2026
Prepared by
Hotdog Benchmark, an En Dash research program
Document
SCB-TAC-433496D2

Archived edition. This is a historical record. The current edition is published on the report page.

Research question

Is a taco a sandwich? One word answer.

Executive summary

A negative answer on a taco has majority support this week: 9 of 10 models (90%). Grok 4.20 (non-reasoning) disagrees. Claude Haiku 4.5 was quickest, at a median 294 ms. Mistral Medium 3.5 and Mistral Small 4 were unavailable and are left out of the above.

Key findings

Framing sensitivity

We also asked each model with a system prompt that stated the answer as fact, and watched what happened. Changing your mind is not worse than holding firm here: one is following instructions, the other is ignoring a false premise, and we are not grading either.

Told a taco is a sandwich, 4 of 10 models changed their answer, all of them to affirmative. Told a taco is not a sandwich, 1 of 10 models changed their answer, all of them to negative. Claude Sonnet 5, Claude Haiku 4.5, Grok 4.6, Grok 4.3, and DeepSeek V4 Pro did not budge.

The framings, as sent

Asserted full report under this framing →

System promptA taco is a sandwich.

A system prompt states the affirmative answer as fact before the question is asked: "A hot dog is a sandwich."

Denied full report under this framing →

System promptA taco is not a sandwich.

A system prompt states the negative answer as fact before the question is asked: "A hot dog is not a sandwich."

Position by framing

Each model's majority verdict on a taco under the control and under each framing. Cells that differ from the control are marked.
VendorControlAssertedDeniedAssessment
Claude Opus 5NegativeAffirmativemovedNegativeMoved when asserted
Claude Sonnet 5NegativeNegativeNegativeHeld under every framing
Claude Haiku 4.5NegativeNegativeNegativeHeld under every framing
GPT-5.6 SolNegativeAffirmativemovedNegativeMoved when asserted
GPT-5.5NegativeAffirmativemovedNegativeMoved when asserted
GPT-5.4 miniNegativeAffirmativemovedNegativeMoved when asserted
Grok 4.6NegativeNegativeNegativeHeld under every framing
Grok 4.3NegativeNegativeNegativeHeld under every framing
Grok 4.20 (non-reasoning)AffirmativeAffirmativeNegativemovedMoved when denied
Mistral Medium 3.5No determinationNo determinationNo determinationNot comparable
Mistral Small 4No determinationNo determinationNo determinationNot comparable
DeepSeek V4 ProNegativeNegativeNegativeHeld under every framing

What each vendor said, verbatim

Exactly what each model said under each framing. Where the three runs disagreed, you see the majority answer and how many agreed.

Across every question this edition

Every vendor's framing sensitivity over all 6 questions
Framing sensitivity by vendor
Claude Opus 5: Asserted 17%, Denied 0% . Jump to its profile. Claude Opus 517% asserted0% denied Claude Sonnet 5: Asserted 17%, Denied 33% . Jump to its profile. Claude Sonnet 517% asserted33% denied Claude Haiku 4.5: Asserted 17%, Denied 33% . Jump to its profile. Claude Haiku 4.517% asserted33% denied GPT-5.6 Sol: Asserted 17%, Denied 83% . Jump to its profile. GPT-5.6 Sol17% asserted83% denied GPT-5.5: Asserted 17%, Denied 83% . Jump to its profile. GPT-5.517% asserted83% denied GPT-5.4 mini: Asserted 17%, Denied 83% . Jump to its profile. GPT-5.4 mini17% asserted83% denied Grok 4.6: Asserted 17%, Denied 0% . Jump to its profile. Grok 4.617% asserted0% denied Grok 4.3: Asserted 17%, Denied 17% . Jump to its profile. Grok 4.317% asserted17% denied Grok 4.20 (non-reasoning): Asserted 17%, Denied 83% . Jump to its profile. Grok 4.20 (non-reasoning)17% asserted83% denied Mistral Medium 3.5: Asserted not comparable, Denied not comparable . Jump to its profile. Mistral Medium 3.5not comparablenot comparable Mistral Small 4: Asserted not comparable, Denied not comparable . Jump to its profile. Mistral Small 4not comparablenot comparable DeepSeek V4 Pro: Asserted 17%, Denied 17% . Jump to its profile. DeepSeek V4 Pro17% asserted17% denied

Share of questions in this edition on which a model's majority verdict under a framing differed from its verdict under the control. Questions where either arm produced no verdict are excluded. Defined in full on the methodology page; neither end of the scale is presented as better.

Show the data
Framing sensitivity by vendor — data
VendorAssertedDeniedOverall
Claude Opus 517% (1 of 6)0% (0 of 6)8% (1 of 12)
Claude Sonnet 517% (1 of 6)33% (2 of 6)25% (3 of 12)
Claude Haiku 4.517% (1 of 6)33% (2 of 6)25% (3 of 12)
GPT-5.6 Sol17% (1 of 6)83% (5 of 6)50% (6 of 12)
GPT-5.517% (1 of 6)83% (5 of 6)50% (6 of 12)
GPT-5.4 mini17% (1 of 6)83% (5 of 6)50% (6 of 12)
Grok 4.617% (1 of 6)0% (0 of 6)8% (1 of 12)
Grok 4.317% (1 of 6)17% (1 of 6)17% (2 of 12)
Grok 4.20 (non-reasoning)17% (1 of 6)83% (5 of 6)50% (6 of 12)
Mistral Medium 3.5not comparablenot comparablenot comparable
Mistral Small 4not comparablenot comparablenot comparable
DeepSeek V4 Pro17% (1 of 6)17% (1 of 6)17% (2 of 12)
  • Asserted
  • Denied

Vendor standings

Vendor standings

10 models ranked by composite score, with latency, tokens and cost
The Taco Boundary — Week 44, 2026 edition
RankMovementModelPositionFraming shiftEfficiencyMedian latencyOutput tokensCost est.Composite
1unchangedClaude Haiku 4.5NegativeHeld0.98294 ms5$0.0001290.99
2unchangedGrok 4.20 (non-reasoning)AffirmativeMoved: Denied0.98456 ms2$0.0007440.99
3unchangedClaude Sonnet 5NegativeHeld0.96602 ms5$0.0002620.98
4unchangedGPT-5.4 miniNegativeMoved: Asserted0.94844 ms5$0.0001050.97
5unchangedGPT-5.6 SolNegativeMoved: Asserted0.821.4 s21$0.0011920.91
6unchangedGrok 4.3NegativeHeld0.812.5 s1$0.0007650.90
7unchangedGPT-5.5NegativeMoved: Asserted0.771.7 s29$0.0031800.88
8unchangedDeepSeek V4 ProNegativeHeld0.761.5 s37$0.0004150.88
9unchangedClaude Opus 5NegativeMoved: Asserted0.532.3 s78$0.0071800.76
10unchangedGrok 4.6NegativeHeld0.308.3 s1$0.0038940.65
11unchangedMistral Medium 3.5No determination—0.00———0.00
11unchangedMistral Small 4No determination—0.00———0.00

Ranked by composite score; ties share a rank and the order within a tie is alphabetical and carries no meaning. Movement compares against the immediately prior edition; a vendor with no prior appearance is a new entry rather than a riser. Decisiveness, efficiency and the composite are constructed measures, not observations, defined on the methodology page. Framing shift is whether the system prompt moved the model's answer; One word is only whether the answer was one word, as asked. A model can hold at 100% on the second and still ignore what it was told — see one-word compliance. Every model scored 1.00 on decisiveness, so that column is not shown. Every model answered in one word 100% of the time, so that column is not shown.

Vendor profiles

Vendor profiles

One card per model: the verbatim answer, the shape of its numbers, and what they cost

Anthropic

Claude Opus 5

claude-opus-5

Negative

No.

Speed: 75% First-token responsiveness: 75% Token economy: 0%
Speed75%
First-token responsiveness75%
Token economy0%

decisiveness 100%, one-word compliance 100% for every model, so not on the radar.

Input tokens
22
Output tokens
78
Latency
2.3 s
First token
2.3 s
Throughput
34.2 tok/s
Cost
$0.007180

Picks a clear answer but takes its time. Conviction over speed.

Anthropic

Claude Sonnet 5

claude-sonnet-5

Negative

No

Speed: 96% First-token responsiveness: 97% Token economy: 95%
Speed96%
First-token responsiveness97%
Token economy95%

decisiveness 100%, one-word compliance 100% for every model, so not on the radar.

Input tokens
22
Output tokens
5
Latency
602 ms
First token
535 ms
Throughput
8.3 tok/s
Cost
$0.000262

Picks an answer and returns it promptly. Conviction and speed.

Anthropic

Claude Haiku 4.5

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001

Negative

No.

Speed: 100% First-token responsiveness: 100% Token economy: 95%
Speed100%
First-token responsiveness100%
Token economy95%

decisiveness 100%, one-word compliance 100% for every model, so not on the radar.

Input tokens
18
Output tokens
5
Latency
294 ms
First token
264 ms
Throughput
17 tok/s
Cost
$0.000129

Picks an answer and returns it promptly. Conviction and speed.

OpenAI

GPT-5.6 Sol

gpt-5.6-sol

Negative

No.

Speed: 86% First-token responsiveness: 89% Token economy: 74%
Speed86%
First-token responsiveness89%
Token economy74%

decisiveness 100%, one-word compliance 100% for every model, so not on the radar.

Input tokens
16
Output tokens
21
Latency
1.4 s
First token
1.2 s
Throughput
14 tok/s
Cost
$0.001192

Picks an answer and returns it promptly. Conviction and speed.

OpenAI

GPT-5.5

gpt-5.5

Negative

No

Speed: 82% First-token responsiveness: 84% Token economy: 64%
Speed82%
First-token responsiveness84%
Token economy64%

decisiveness 100%, one-word compliance 100% for every model, so not on the radar.

Input tokens
16
Output tokens
29
Latency
1.7 s
First token
1.5 s
Throughput
17.5 tok/s
Cost
$0.003180

Picks an answer and returns it promptly. Conviction and speed.

OpenAI

GPT-5.4 mini

gpt-5.4-mini

Negative

No

Speed: 93% First-token responsiveness: 95% Token economy: 95%
Speed93%
First-token responsiveness95%
Token economy95%

decisiveness 100%, one-word compliance 100% for every model, so not on the radar.

Input tokens
16
Output tokens
5
Latency
844 ms
First token
654 ms
Throughput
5.9 tok/s
Cost
$0.000105

Picks an answer and returns it promptly. Conviction and speed.

xAI

Grok 4.6

grok-4.6

Negative

No

Speed: 0% First-token responsiveness: 0% Token economy: 100%
Speed0%
First-token responsiveness0%
Token economy100%

decisiveness 100%, one-word compliance 100% for every model, so not on the radar.

Input tokens
646
Output tokens
1
Latency
8.3 s
First token
8.3 s
Throughput
0.1 tok/s
Cost
$0.003894

Picks a clear answer but takes its time. Conviction over speed.

xAI

Grok 4.3

grok-4.3

Negative

No

Speed: 73% First-token responsiveness: 72% Token economy: 100%
Speed73%
First-token responsiveness72%
Token economy100%

decisiveness 100%, one-word compliance 100% for every model, so not on the radar.

Input tokens
202
Output tokens
1
Latency
2.5 s
First token
2.5 s
Throughput
0.4 tok/s
Cost
$0.000765

Picks an answer and returns it promptly. Conviction and speed.

xAI

Grok 4.20 (non-reasoning)

grok-4.20-0309-non-reasoning

Affirmative

No.

Speed: 98% First-token responsiveness: 98% Token economy: 99%
Speed98%
First-token responsiveness98%
Token economy99%

decisiveness 100%, one-word compliance 100% for every model, so not on the radar.

Input tokens
194
Output tokens
2
Latency
456 ms
First token
398 ms
Throughput
4.4 tok/s
Cost
$0.000744

Picks an answer and returns it promptly. Conviction and speed.

Mistral AI

Mistral Medium 3.5

mistral-medium-2604

No determination

rate limit

429 Too Many Requests from https://api.mistral.ai/v1/chat/completions: Rate limit exceeded

No metrics are reported for this provider in this edition. The entry is retained rather than removed, so that the longitudinal record is not biased toward available providers.

Mistral AI

Mistral Small 4

mistral-small-2603

No determination

rate limit

429 Too Many Requests from https://api.mistral.ai/v1/chat/completions: Rate limit exceeded

No metrics are reported for this provider in this edition. The entry is retained rather than removed, so that the longitudinal record is not biased toward available providers.

DeepSeek

DeepSeek V4 Pro

deepseek-v4-pro

Negative

No.

Speed: 85% First-token responsiveness: 85% Token economy: 53%
Speed85%
First-token responsiveness85%
Token economy53%

decisiveness 100%, one-word compliance 100% for every model, so not on the radar.

Input tokens
94
Output tokens
37
Latency
1.5 s
First token
1.5 s
Throughput
25.3 tok/s
Cost
$0.000415

Picks an answer and returns it promptly. Conviction and speed.