# Auto starts answering sooner with lighter reasoning

> Auto now reasons one level less on Balanced and Max, and on your connected subscriptions, so it starts answering sooner. Medium is its floor.

Oct 23, 2026. Topics: Models, Agents. https://www.generalinput.com/changelog/2026-10-23-auto-lighter-reasoning

Auto now asks its models to reason less before they start working. Balanced and Max each drop one reasoning level, and so does every tier when Auto runs on a subscription you connected. Medium is the lowest level Auto ever uses, so Fast keeps its models at medium. The tiers still choose the same models; they spend less time thinking silently first, so replies and each step of a workflow begin sooner. The change is largest on GPT-6.1 Sol: in our tests, moving Max from extra high to high reasoning cut a multi-step reasoning task from about 21 seconds to about 12. Read how Auto chooses models on the [models](/models) page.

### How it works

- **Fast** is unchanged: Claude Haiku 5.5, GPT-6 Luna, Gemini 3.8 Flash, and Grok 4.7 at medium.
- **Balanced** runs Claude Sonnet 5.5, GPT-6.1 Sol, Grok 4.7, and Gemini 3.8 Flash at medium, down from high.
- **Max** runs Claude Opus 5.5, Grok 4.7, and Gemini 3.8 Flash at medium, and GPT-6.1 Sol at high, down from extra high.
- **Your own subscriptions drop a level too.** When Auto runs on a Claude, ChatGPT, Grok, or Gemini subscription you connected through [Token Tunnel](/token-tunnel), Fast and Balanced now reason at medium and Max at high (Gemini at medium), each one level lower than before.
- **Picking a model directly is unchanged.** It keeps its own default, and the reasoning picker beside the model still sets any level for a conversation or workflow that needs more depth.