The "cost per task" metric is just a weaselly way to sound like they didn't just double the cost for most users, and aren't having their proverbial lunch money stolen. They can no longer claim to provide more tokens, more capable models, or more usage in general. So they made up a new metric where "task" could be defined to mean whatever they need it to mean.
They had to become VERY specific in their wording to present any kind of value proposition that will entice people.
[0] https://newsletter.semianalysis.com/p/anthropic-subscription...
5x is calculated in terms of API costs, nobody pays those extreme Anthropic prices outside enterprise users.
> like they didn't just double the cost for most users
Most users aren't on their $200 plan. Most users (including on the $200 plan) continue being subsidized.