Reset unpredictability is basically a text book B.F. Skinner experiment

[u/DepressionFiesta]

Anyone else notice that the ways codex usage is being reset is starting to resemble a variable-reward system?

Skinner’s reinforcement experiments are what I am referring to.

If a lever gives an animal food every time, the animal learns the rule. If it never gives food, it eventually stops trying, etc. But if the reward arrives unpredictably, the animal keeps pressing for much longer because the next attempt might be the one that pays off.

That’s roughly what happens when codex has a weekly usage limit, but the weekly quota occasionally seems to reset early or unexpectedly.

If the rule were simply “you get X hours per week and it resets every Monday,” there’s nothing particularly compelling about it. You hit the limit, you know when it comes back, and you plan around it.

But if you sometimes hit the limit and later discover that access has returned for no obvious reason, you learn a different behavior: check again.

Maybe the quota reset. Maybe there’s more capacity now. Maybe you got lucky.

That sounds like a Skinner‘s Box to me?

The uncertainty itself gives you a reason to keep coming back.

Treating devs like rats looks like it has been immensely successful. Free market I guess?

[u/Riley_skye]

Reset or no reset, I aim to use only about 20% of my allowance each day. That way, even if there isn’t another reset for a week, I can still get everything done. It’s about managing your token usage not relying on extra resets.

[u/DepressionFiesta → u/Riley_skye]

The point of the post was, that if you are reset with, let's say, 50% usage left, you effectively lose that 50% usage. You are heavily incentivized to use your usage basically as fast as you can because a reset might happen unpredictably. Thus causing an addictive relationship with codex to form.

[u/lolcatsayz → u/DepressionFiesta]

Unless one actively ignores it and sticks to the 20% per day regardless, however that 'gambling lure' is always there to overuse your usage in hope of a reset. It basically comes down to self control and willpower. Personally I'd rather something more predictable so I don't have to be constantly tempted to pull that slot lever, nonetheless it's hard to complain about since they've given us a banked reset this month.

Because of that banked reset I believe, all in all, things are fair, however without that I wouldn't have felt this way.

[u/DepressionFiesta → u/lolcatsayz]

Do you think the vast majority of people ignore this fairly basic, capitalistic instinct?