华尔街见闻·2025-08-31 13:07Core Viewpoint - The AI industry is shifting its focus from "higher and stronger" to "smarter and more economical," as evidenced by the latest developments in mixed reasoning and adaptive computing [2][5]. Group 1: Innovations in AI Models - Meituan's LongCat-Flash model features a "zero computation" expert mechanism that intelligently identifies non-critical parts of input, significantly saving computational power [3]. - The rising complexity of reasoning models is leading to increased costs for AI applications, prompting a collective industry response towards mixed reasoning models [5][11]. Group 2: Cost Dynamics in AI - Despite a decrease in the cost per token, the subscription fees for top models continue to rise due to the increasing number of tokens required for complex tasks [7][8]. - The competition for the most intelligent models has transformed into a competition for the most expensive models, impacting the profitability of application-layer companies [10]. Group 3: Mixed Reasoning as a Solution - Mixed reasoning, or adaptive computing, has emerged as a consensus in the industry to address cost challenges, allowing AI systems to allocate computational resources based on task complexity [11][12]. - Major players like OpenAI and DeepSeek are implementing mechanisms that enable models to determine when to engage in deep thinking versus quick responses, achieving significant reductions in token consumption while maintaining output quality [12][13].