The AI industry faces challenges with traditional benchmarks, which often fail to accurately measure a model's practical effectiveness because they prioritize test performance over real-world utility, as illustrated by the disparity between OpenAI's GPT-5 and Anthropic's models. These benchmarks become targets themselves, leading to models that excel in standardized tests but struggle with specific production tasks due to factors like data contamination and lack of real-world constraints. The industry's obsession with benchmarks is problematic as they do not account for latency, cost, or real-world application needs. Instead, rigorous A/B testing with real users and workloads is recommended to uncover the most effective model portfolios, as this approach reveals true performance metrics, such as task completion rates and latency, that drive business value. By embracing empirical methods rather than relying solely on benchmarks, AI teams can optimize models to meet their unique production requirements, ensuring cost-effectiveness and user satisfaction.