Frontier Dependence Glossary
Frontier Dependence is a workflow’s reliance on externally supplied frontier models for tasks its controlled or local models cannot yet perform reliably.
A sovereign workflow may run locally. A personal assistant may keep memory on the operator’s machine. Routine tasks may be handled by open-weight models. But, for this operator’s selected tasks in 2026, some architecture, synthesis, difficult coding, subtle judgement, long-context reasoning, and final review still benefit from frontier systems supplied by Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, xAI, or their successors. The boundary is task-specific and moves as models and workflows improve.
Frontier Dependence is related to Opus Addict but broader. Opus Addict names the operator’s specific dependency on Anthropic’s highest-capability Claude tier. Frontier Dependence names the structural condition: the sovereignty project begins inside dependence.
The danger is pretending otherwise. The opportunity is using frontier capability deliberately while building local capacity that reduces how often the operator must call the empire.