🎯 Purpose & Impact (why it matters)

• Faster, more stable YOLOE-26 inference loops 🚀
  If you repeatedly run predictions with the same text prompts/classes, v8.4.12 avoids unnecessary reconfiguration and embedding regeneration—improving performance and reducing potential side effects.
• More reliable multi-job GPU usage 🖥️
  When launching multiple trainings/inference processes at once, GPU selection is less likely to “pile onto” the same device due to tie conditions.
• Better support for grayscale/multispectral workflows 🖤🤍
  Training with cache="disk" and using AutoBatch on non-3-channel inputs is now more correct and consistent—reducing mismatches, mis-profiling, and possible crashes.
• Clearer docs aligned with the recommended model 📘
  Updated examples reduce copy/paste confusion by pointing users to YOLO26, the latest stable and recommended Ultralytics model family.

What's Changed

• Round-robin GPU autoselect by @glenn-jocher in https://github.com/ultralytics/ultralytics/pull/23544
• Fix disk caching with multispectral images by @Y-T-G in https://github.com/ultralytics/ultralytics/pull/23545
• Fix AutoBatch with multispectral images by @Y-T-G in https://github.com/ultralytics/ultralytics/pull/23546
• Remove cached *.npy files in grayscale tests by @Laughing-q in https://github.com/ultralytics/ultralytics/pull/23554
• docs: 📝 update exporter file yolo11 terms to newest yolo26 by @onuralpszr in https://github.com/ultralytics/ultralytics/pull/23556
• Remove "background" class from classification confusion matrix by @Y-T-G in https://github.com/ultralytics/ultralytics/pull/23547
• ultralytics 8.4.12 YOLOE-26 skip set_classes if text prompts already set by @Laughing-q in https://github.com/ultralytics/ultralytics/pull/23552

Full Changelog: https://github.com/ultralytics/ultralytics/compare/v8.4.11...v8.4.12