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On acquisition pricing: Why smarter AI models could drive up compute prices 10x (at least temporarily). This seems mind blowing, but the big boys seem to be behaving as if it's directionally true. If compute is constrained and expensive, OpenRouter is what you'll use to get around the constraints at individual providers. https://x.com/dwarkesh_sp/status/2084333160075055122?s=20
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And... How do they combine? I really curious.
Their business models are actually kind of similar. Stripe is just passing money between financial institutions and taking a small cut. OpenRouter is basically the same thing. They might have shared ability on how to run an effective pass through business.
Hm. This seems random. Other than the fact that they are both technology companies, is there anything else that they have in common?
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That's what OpenRouter already does, so the Stripe value add here is still unclear
Not OP, but I could see the vision. Right now OpenRouter is developer-paid with no way to pass costs onto the end user. Stripe could help bill and meter at the user level for per-user billing. I would also think more SDKs/easier ways to add AI features (paid for via openrouter) into apps and websites.
I rather have protocols be built and less middlemen PaaS. One great example is Open Banking. I would support an Open Router that mirrors Open Banking, unfortunately the Open here doesn’t carry the same connotation. Kudos to the team for succeeding in executing around a clear DX issue during the chaos of providers, though long term I am not really a fan of it staying as is even if Stripe gets to be the one carrying it…
What open banking? I can't even get a read-only token for my personal use to see the balance on my account and I sit two team calls away from people who cooked the API
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Curious on what OpenRouter's true moat is? It's just an LLM API routing framework, right?
OpenRouter’s “moat” is currently “why would I use anything else?”. Stripe has presumably only purchased them because they think there’s consumer-surplus to monetize here, which presumably will soon be giving me lots of reasons to use something else.
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Every token/llm provider already has usage metering...so not sure what exactly you're imagining stripe adds here
A single policy location for multiple models with usage limits/rate limits, spend limits all configurable using a common syntax + deep integration with account levels and high visibility into subscription/payments related to meter usage to help understand whether or not your pricing model is underwater as costs change is exceptionally valuable. AFAIK each product consuming model providers without an openrouter style…
AI products are going to have to deal with accounting. An agent performs some work. It uses some models and perhaps some other metered services. Someone has to meter that activity. They have to attribute costs, apply the product's pricing rules, bill the customer, collect, reconcile with vendors, and maintain the ledger. Stripe can use OpenRouter to build the financial and accounting infrastructure for every product…
At some point AI will be able to deal with the repetitive and template based parts of accounting better than accounting. Which is saying a lot.