Benchmarks are somebody else's setup on somebody else's task. Give two AI tools the same messy job you actually have, track four things, and get an answer that is about your work.
ARC Prize ran GPT-6 Astra on one of the hardest tests in AI. In a plain setup it scored 62.7%. With OpenAI's own memory and reasoning system wrapped around it, about 99.9%. Same model, both times.
The model is one part. Around it sits software that keeps notes, retries, and holds a long job together. Change that and the same AI behaves like a different one.
Which is why launch-week charts disagree with each other, and why none of them are about your work. This is the test that is.
Pick one real job you actually have this week. Not a puzzle, not a sample, not something you invented to be fair. The messiest recurring thing on your list is the best choice, because that is what you are actually buying an AI for.
One paragraph describing what you want, what you are attaching, and what done looks like. You will paste this identical text into both tools. Writing it once is what makes the test fair.
Same wording, same attachments, same time of day. Do not help one more than the other, and do not rescue the one you are hoping wins.
Finished, rescues, time, cost. Definitions are below. Fill them in as you go, because you will not remember accurately afterwards.
It is the one that predicts your week. A tool that gets 90% there but needs you three times is worse than one that gets 80% there alone.
Keep it on paper or in a note. Four numbers per tool. The whole point is that it takes ten minutes to read afterwards.
What to write down: how much of the job came back done. Not how good it looked, how much of it you did not have to do yourself. A fraction is fine: 3 of 4 sections, most of the sheet, all of it.
What to write down: how many times you had to step in. Every correction, clarification, restart, and re-prompt counts as one. This is the column that matters most and the one people forget to keep.
Finished tells you what it can do. Rescues tells you what it costs you. A tool you have to supervise is a tool you did not delegate to.
What to write down: wall clock from when you sent it to when you had something usable. Include your rescue time. That is the number that reflects your actual afternoon.
What to write down: whatever the run consumed. On a paid plan that is usage against your limits. If you never came close to a limit, write down not close and move on.
Three rules, in order.
Launch weeks are designed to make you feel behind. A benchmark chart is somebody else's setup on somebody else's task, and you saw at the top of this page how far apart two numbers for the same model can be.
Your four numbers are worth more than all of them, because they are about the job in front of you.
If you do not have an obvious candidate, these three surface the differences quickest.