In my opinion, Opus 4.6 handles instructions (especially negative rules) better than Opus 4.5 and Sonnet 4.5. It also applies skills better than other models.

In my opinion, Opus 4.6 handles instructions (especially negative rules) better than Opus 4.5 and Sonnet 4.5. It also applies skills better than other models. But I think this is individual. Another example. I asked gpt-5.2-codex to add an array of 5 values to the script and write a small piece of code. Then I manually deleted one of the values in the array and asked the agent to commit. But the model edited the file again and added the value I deleted to the array. I deleted that value again and asked the agent to “just commit.” But the agent edited the file again before committing. This happened many times, and I used different commands, such as “never edit the file, just commit.” The model responded that it understood the command and began editing the file. I switched to gpt-5.2, but that didn't help. I switched to sonnet-4.5, and it immediately committed on the first try without editing the file.