people say this but the models seem to be getting worse over time
Are you saying the best models are not the ones out today, but those of the past? I don't see that happening with the increased competition, nobody can afford it, and it disagrees with my experience. Plateauing, maybe, but that's only as far as my ability to discern.
Models are getting better, like Gemini 2.5 Pro is incredible, compare to what we had a year ago it's on a completely different level.