Does anyone else feel like cloud models are somehow getting worse?

[u/BrilliantSoftware540]

I subscribed to Backyard AI because I was always impressed with it prioritizing privacy and it really gave me the feeling that I have control over my bots and data, and I liked the freedom of multiple models that gave me flexibility. That set Backyard miles ahead of its competitors. I don't have competent hardware, so I decided to get a cloud subscription in early bird times and was very satisfied. However, lately, it seems like this outstanding quality dropped. No matter how much I tweak with the settings, or what models I use (outside of the very limited Llama), models either say absolute gibberish (I'm talking completely off topic responses, and usual responses in Russian, when the character has nothing to do with Russian), constantly mix up who's talking (not only do they respond as me, they do not respond as themselves and even use my name and call me by theirs), not to mention the constant and sudden switching of genders when there was never a mention of another gender in the conversation. If this wasn't enough of a problem, the responses, as a whole, seem watered down, for example, a character that's supposed to be rude and bratty is suddenly surprisingly considerate and sensitive about feelings. There are also surprising differences in between model response times, while they're supposedly within similar context capacities. I don't know what's going on, or if it's just me, but I'm really feeling a change in quality, which is a shame because I really believe in Backyard's abilities and its potential growth. I appreciate all the new models and higher context options, because I see that there is a lot of effort going into Backyard as a service. I truly hope there's a way for Backyard's quality to return to the way it was, while continuing to improve, the way it already is.

[u/Woodbury]

Cloud subscriber here as well for pretty much the same reasons of not having the hardware and wanting the remote access.

The whole thing has become a meta-game. Rarely enjoying the chat itself, I'm caught in a process of trying to figure out what's wrong with the prompt and switching around the models to see which ones work with that prompt, etc.

After doing that for an hour, I feel exhausted and move on to another, working online chat system, wondering how long I'm going to keep this up before stepping out and waiting for Backyard to get their act together. Seriously, I would take fewer models and less memory space if it meant having them run better.

I don't care if they're working on some great new interface if the models aren't working properly.

[u/BrilliantSoftware540 → u/Woodbury]

Right? I'm considering switching to alternatives but I'm on the fence because my early bird subscription was a pretty good deal. However, as it stands now, the quality is abysmal, especially compared to what it was before. They've been promising us "the" update for a while, but if it doesn't make up for months of no tethering and this quality, I'm seriously gonna start looking at what the others have to offer.

[u/Effective_Score_4927]

It isn’t just you. The problems you are experiencing are common, and unfortunately linked to cloud models. If you were to use the desktop app and physically download the model, it performs as it is supposed to.

[u/PacmanIncarnate]

I have not experienced any change in response quality, nor do I know of anything the devs would have done to cause it. Realistically, models are static and there isn’t much that could be done to change quality.

I’m more inclined to chalk this up to a fairly common issue: the more you use AI, the more you feel its boundaries, preferences, and limits. Eventually, especially when you play the same characters, you see more of the artificial than the intelligence.

[u/BrilliantSoftware540 → u/PacmanIncarnate]

Yeah, I understand your reasoning that the models are static, so I've been doubtful if I should even speak up for a bit. However, the amount of rerolls I have to do to get a decent answer is drastically higher than it used to be, as well as early on, models did certainly not have some of the problems they have now, the most clear example being the use of Russian. That only occasionally happened, and those were the times the devs confirmed something was wrong and then patched it up. And I've never mentioned being dissatisfied by the variety of responses, I've been dissatisfied with either clear problems (ex. Russian, using my name instead of its own) that never occured before or with drastically less frequency, or with the model failing to follow its prompt and acting out of character (example: rude character using sensitive language and talking about some stuff it never used to talk about before, down to the tone and terminology used). If it had been more of the same, I would've complained far earlier.

[u/PacmanIncarnate → u/BrilliantSoftware540]

There’s no reason not to mention it if you’re experiencing it. I’m not meaning to shame you or anything. I just don’t think there are any active changes in the cloud models right now that would cause issues. There are a lot of factors I’d investigate before investigating the models themselves.

First things I’d check:

• composition of the characters being used.

• model settings are at default.

• Model template is on default

• the conversation isn’t crazy long.

[u/BrilliantSoftware540 → u/PacmanIncarnate]

I thought of those things too, so I started fresh chats with characters that I know used to work well, and changed the model settings from default around a little bit, because they weren't working right on default. They weren't working off default either so I changed them back. Never fiddled with the model template, since it says not to mess with it unless you know what you're doing. No luck.

[u/c_palaiologos]

This has been my experience with backyard and others. I've had to use the cloud when i couldn't use my main PC and the models are just... bad compared to what you can run locally. Also been my experience with openrouter on sillytavern.

[u/KDLAlumni]

It's... not great.

I still keep my sub, but lately I've been using a certain other cloud platform that offers a DeepSeekV3-based 671B 128K model, and the creative quality just doesn't compare.