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Browse the Copilot or Antigravity subreddits to learn about the introduction of token-based billing. Or look at /r/claude to see how many people are disgruntled with the performance of 4.7 vs 4.6, theories around how models get secretly throttled or modified before a release, etc.
We are simultaneously living in one of the greatest technological revolutions of all time and moving into perhaps... the greatest scam of all time.
AI creates dependency. Time you would've spent figuring out business applicable workflows, the 'secret sauce', or investing in yourself/your education, is now being redirected towards AI usage.
And once everyone gets addicted and on the treadmill, the pricing model will change, pricing will go up, or models will get throttled.
You think you will be able to get around it by self-hosting open source models. And you probably can, to an extent. Maybe for a few years. Eventually, raw power and efficiency from cutting-edge models will beat you out. The more dependent you become on AI, the less choice you will give your future self. You will have no option but to subscribe to the latest model, the max usage, etc.
In most of all 2024, the highest you'd pay for AI was $20/mo - until ChatGPT came out with their $200 Pro plan in December.
In 2025, you actually couldn't pay any other major service more than $20/mo until April, when Anthropic introduced their $100/mo and $200/mo plans. Google AI Ultra ($249/mo) was introduced a month later.
Prices are only going to go up. Look at the hype around Mythos. Do you think that's going to be widely available in their 5x or 20x plan? Good chance it gets fired off as enterprise software. Which means two things: you can't use it, or it might be the first $1k/mo+ model (a quick query shows it might even start at $2k/mo).
Are you willing to pay $100 to ask Mythos one question? It may have 5x or 10x more parameters (up to 10 trillion) compared to cutting edge models. That means you might be able to write something, or build software, or create something that hasn't been created before. Are you willing to take that gamble? Your competitor might. And if your competitor pays the $2k/mo intelligence tax, they can probably just push you out of existence over time.
In some sense, gambling is what this will all boils down to. Gambling dollars for tokens on the hope that the output will be something valuable enough to be part of your business or give you an edge over competitors.
To mitigate this risk, try the following...
Welcome to the new token economy.
We are simultaneously living in one of the greatest technological revolutions of all time and moving into perhaps... the greatest scam of all time.
AI creates dependency. Time you would've spent figuring out business applicable workflows, the 'secret sauce', or investing in yourself/your education, is now being redirected towards AI usage.
And once everyone gets addicted and on the treadmill, the pricing model will change, pricing will go up, or models will get throttled.
You think you will be able to get around it by self-hosting open source models. And you probably can, to an extent. Maybe for a few years. Eventually, raw power and efficiency from cutting-edge models will beat you out. The more dependent you become on AI, the less choice you will give your future self. You will have no option but to subscribe to the latest model, the max usage, etc.
In most of all 2024, the highest you'd pay for AI was $20/mo - until ChatGPT came out with their $200 Pro plan in December.
In 2025, you actually couldn't pay any other major service more than $20/mo until April, when Anthropic introduced their $100/mo and $200/mo plans. Google AI Ultra ($249/mo) was introduced a month later.
Prices are only going to go up. Look at the hype around Mythos. Do you think that's going to be widely available in their 5x or 20x plan? Good chance it gets fired off as enterprise software. Which means two things: you can't use it, or it might be the first $1k/mo+ model (a quick query shows it might even start at $2k/mo).
Are you willing to pay $100 to ask Mythos one question? It may have 5x or 10x more parameters (up to 10 trillion) compared to cutting edge models. That means you might be able to write something, or build software, or create something that hasn't been created before. Are you willing to take that gamble? Your competitor might. And if your competitor pays the $2k/mo intelligence tax, they can probably just push you out of existence over time.
In some sense, gambling is what this will all boils down to. Gambling dollars for tokens on the hope that the output will be something valuable enough to be part of your business or give you an edge over competitors.
To mitigate this risk, try the following...
- Build systems w/ frontier models that dumber models can use
- Find a competitive advantage with AI-assisted workflows, but not necessarily AI-dependent workflows. I can build a website without AI, but AI makes me faster. I can write copy without AI, but AI makes me faster...etc. Also: non-agentic automations have long existed, and you do not need an agent to automate your inbox or calendar
- Keep investing in yourself to become more resilient, sharper, smarter, disciplined and less dependent on AI
- Stay on the side of team producer and monitor your habits/usage
Welcome to the new token economy.
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