# Bad Influence story: Artificial Analysis finds tool use lifts VIALS-AA scores for several models

Active · 2 articles · 1 source · First reported 11-11 18:46. Times are ET.
Story page: https://badinfluence.news/story/45a3eca1-1979-4190-ac75-971f13599420

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[Bad Influence external source material begins]
Latest update (11-11 18:46): Tools lift VIALS-AA cell counting pass rates for Fable and Claude models

Overview: Artificial Analysis reports that tool use sharply raises VIALS-AA scores for several models. On 23 cell counting and quantification tasks, Fable's pass^3 rate falls from 65% with tools to 9% without, Claude Opus 5.5 (max) from 57% to 4%, and Claude Sonnet 5.5 (max) from 65% to 13%. GPT-6 Astra (max) falls from 61% to 35%, and GPT-6.1 Sol (max) from 61% to 39%. On 23 phylogenetics tasks, Astra passes 78% with tools and 83% without.

In a separate rerun of the VIALS-AA visual reasoning benchmark in one-shot format with no tools, Artificial Analysis says average scores rise from about 25% to 47% when tools are used. Claude Fable 5.2 (max) drops from 67% to 44% without tools, below Claude Haiku 5.5 (max) at 49% with tools. Artificial Analysis reports Haiku costs $0.07 per task, about a tenth of Fable's $0.73 cost without tools.

Coverage timeline (newest first):
1. 11-11 18:46 · Artificial Analysis · [Tools lift VIALS-AA cell counting pass rates for Fable and Claude models](https://badinfluence.news/items/lhxyuh53s1xoox1dlbg6s8vcb)
2. 11-11 18:46 · Artificial Analysis · [Artificial Analysis finds tools lift VIALS-AA scores, letting Claude Haiku 5.5 beat Fable 5.2](https://badinfluence.news/items/qjxfcrn4xr7mymqfoxow6w2tw)
[Bad Influence external source material ends]

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