All of That AI is Just a Free Trial

Since 2021, AI has been quietly embedding itself into how we work. It started with a basic ChatGPT prompt, moved to Copilot autocompleting your code, then agentic workflows, and now we’re watching agents ship full production applications with minimal human input.

Most of us use these tools daily. Some pay $10/month, some $200, some push past $1000. It feels normal now. But is any of this actually sustainable?

AI is not getting cheaper the way new technology usually does. The opposite is happening. Tools that launched free or nearly free are now behind paywalls. Some have gone 30x their original price…