https://artificialanalysis.ai/leaderboards/models seems to suggest Nova Lite is half the price of 4o-mini, and a chunk faster too, with a bit of quality drop-off. I have no loyalty to OpenAI, if it does as well as 4o-mini in the eval suite, I'll switch. I was hoping "Gemini 1.5 Flash (Sep)" would pass muster for similar reasons, but it didn't.
I'd say, people that need it. Which could be the same for all the other models out there.
To create one model that is great at everything is probably a pipedream. Much like creating a multi-tool that can do everything- but can it? I wouldn't trust a multi-tool to take a wheel nut off a wheel, but I would find it useful if I suddenly needed a cross-head screw taken out of something.
But then I also have a specific crosshead screwdriver that is good at just taking out cross-head screws.
Use the right tool for the right reason. In this case, there maybe a legal reason why someone might need to use it. It might be that this version of a model can create something better that another model can't. It might be that for cost reasons you are within AWS, that it makes sense to use a model at the cheaper cost than say something else.
So yeah, I am sure it will be great for some people, and terrible for others... just the way things go!