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I built a demo of what AI chat will look like when it's “free” and ad-supported

99helpers.com

101–110 of 317 posts

Re: I built a demo of what AI chat will look like when it's “free” and ad-supported

#102
post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not how enshittification, vendor lock in, and network effects work. You're participating in the collective delusion that we have perfect market competition.

explain the dynamics of how enshittification would work here?

People stay on the shitty platform because it is convenient and still does what they need.

See extreme-enshitification-of-already-shitty Windows vs free Linux.

Re: I built a demo of what AI chat will look like when it's “free” and ad-supported

#103
post #98

It’s strange to see extreme amount of hysteria on this. There’s enough market competition to not allow this. If ChatGPT is doing it then just move to Claude. If all are doing it then surely opensource models are a good alternative. But i think leaning into the hysteria provides some comfort

While it isn't a perfect comparison, streaming platforms that have ad-subsidized subscriptions with ads (as the name suggests) certainly haven't been driven out by market competition. I believe hysteria in this case is healthy, so we can end up with something closer the still fairly reasonable implementation of the streaming platforms, instead of the example here.

> streaming platforms that have ad-subsidized subscriptions with ads (as the name suggests) certainly haven't been driven out by market competition

which ones don't have an ad free tier?

Re: I built a demo of what AI chat will look like when it's “free” and ad-supported

#104
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this avoidable? These things cost money to run. Who pays if not with ads? There will I’m sure be the ability to pay and not have ads just like there is on streaming platforms, podcasts, etc. Or should there be tax supported free AI?

If you run the models locally, you can avoid ads. There are some apps out there on githup that allow to run ai models on android phones.

imho, the hosted solution will always be better, the major players will offer better integrated chat, and they'll have budgets to do so, as long as advertising income is available

Re: I built a demo of what AI chat will look like when it's “free” and ad-supported

#105
post #2

We all know the pattern: something useful launches → it becomes popular → it needs to make money → ads everywhere. AI chat is heading the same way. So I built a fully interactive demo that shows what an ad-supported AI chatbot could actually look like: https://99helpers.com/tools/ad-supported-chat It includes every monetization pattern you can think of: - Pre-chat interstitials (like YouTube pre-rolls, but for chat)…

> We all know the pattern: something useful launches → it becomes popular → it needs to make money → [ Surveillance → Psychological Manipulation/Addiction → "Personalized" ] ads everywhere. The incentives will be: 1. Get people psychologically dependent in any way possible. 2. Incentivize any "creators" that help with #1. Pose as "content neutral", while actually funding and pumping any content that creates "engageme…

You forget the step where the company and investors try their best to kill any competition that eats into the margins.

After they have their niche by the balls, they enshittify the product as much as the users are willing to tolerate and then some more.

Re: I built a demo of what AI chat will look like when it's “free” and ad-supported

#106

It’s strange to see extreme amount of hysteria on this. There’s enough market competition to not allow this. If ChatGPT is doing it then just move to Claude. If all are doing it then surely opensource models are a good alternative. But i think leaning into the hysteria provides some comfort

You can still have 10 different providers with advertising.

Although I agree more competition will act as a counter to spoiling the experience with advertising.

Re: I built a demo of what AI chat will look like when it's “free” and ad-supported

#107
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this avoidable? These things cost money to run. Who pays if not with ads? There will I’m sure be the ability to pay and not have ads just like there is on streaming platforms, podcasts, etc. Or should there be tax supported free AI?

If you run the models locally, you can avoid ads. There are some apps out there on githup that allow to run ai models on android phones.

Sure. But then you are paying via hardware. Good models require a beefy machine.

Wouldn’t be surprised to see paid downloadable models in the future either.

Re: I built a demo of what AI chat will look like when it's “free” and ad-supported

#108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

explain the dynamics of how enshittification would work here?

People stay on the shitty platform because it is convenient and still does what they need. See extreme-enshitification-of-already-shitty Windows vs free Linux.

free linux is a way worse product

Re: I built a demo of what AI chat will look like when it's “free” and ad-supported

#109

It’s strange to see extreme amount of hysteria on this. There’s enough market competition to not allow this. If ChatGPT is doing it then just move to Claude. If all are doing it then surely opensource models are a good alternative. But i think leaning into the hysteria provides some comfort

The cost to train and run these things is going to lead to fewer players eventually. I suspect we end up with 2 or 3 big players in 10 years.

Re: I built a demo of what AI chat will look like when it's “free” and ad-supported

#110
post #28

You forgot the part where they charge you to get rid of the ads but then the ads come back anyway so you're paying to be the product.

This take is prevalent but not really true. You can subsidize the cost of a full subscription by having ads. I know that society at large is mostly hopeless, but here on HN we generally have the mental firepower to comprehend "It's a sliding payment scale from no ads to all ads" Edit: You guys are welcome to be upset by this, but if you think it's wrong, please correct me. Ideally without using the one counter exampl…

No, if a company gets enough leverage the top plan will demand both payment and ads. We've seen it before and we'll see it again.
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