If there’s one thing that we can (probably) agree on, it’s that AI is, for the most part, a stinking pile of fetid rubbish that pumps out reams of incorrect information wrapped up as cold, hard fact.
Yet, AI is so big that it seems like all companies have to embrace it, with us ultimately paying the price, literally.
AI is mind-numbingly expensive to run
AI isn’t just expensive, it’s comically, stupidly expensive. From the huge data centres to the electricity costs, AI costs a staggering amount to run. On X, a user pondered, “I wonder how much money OpenAI has lost in electricity costs from people saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ to their models.”
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, responded to say, “tens of millions of dollars well spent–you never know.”
That’s a lot of money just because some people like to be polite. And they say that kindness costs nothing…
Anyway, the point is that AI is expensive to set up, expensive to train and expensive to run. While a lot of it has been given away free, there comes a point where companies won’t just be content with letting people make rubbish pictures of themselves styled as an action figure, and want money back. And that time is coming soon.
Opt-out, save cash
At the start of January 2025, Microsoft announced that its Microsoft 365 subscription, which includes OneDrive and the Office suite, would include Co-Pilot by default. Oh, and it would cost more: a Family subscription would rise to £104.99 per year.
That’s £25 to have something worse than Clippy, with Co-pilot able to make a hash of writing documents automatically, or badly trying to summarise emails. Or, you can dive into the renewal settings and go for the Classic option without Co-pilot for £25 less. I, obviously, saved the £25. If I want AI to ruin something, I can just use ChatGPT for free.
Google hiked its Workspace accounts, partly because of the bundled AI features, which is why I cancelled my account and moved to a simpler email and cloud storage service.
If you want Ring’s AI-powered Smart Video Search, you’ll need a Ring Home Premium subscription, which is £15.99 a month. Ring Home Standard is £7.99 a month. Sure, Premium adds 24/7 recording as well, but there’s no cheaper option for AI Smart Video Search.
I like Smart Video Search and think it’s a sensible use of training data because it makes it easier to find real clips, and it doesn’t run roughshod over copyright and human invention by generating videos. Is AI video search worth doubling the monthly outlay? No thanks.
Then, there’s Alexa+, which has a nominal fee of a whopping $19.99 a month. Sure, the service is free with Amazon Prime for now, but Prime Video was completely free at launch and is now stuffed full of badly-produced adverts, inserted at all the wrong points, unless you pay an extra fee to remove ads.
As an aside, with all of this AI around, why can’t the ad service at least spot the appropriate breaks in the programme you’re watching and even generate a nice title card. A bit like, you know, actual real broadcast TV, which streaming started to kill off by offering a cheap, ad-free alternative, before switching course to be an expensive, ad-supported hot mess.
Anyway, the point is that AI costs are being pushed onto humble subscribers whether they want them or not, and I can only see the service getting worse.
AI-free forever
You see companies like Spotify experimenting with AI, with the likes of AI-generated playlists. I don’t have much confidence in this, given that Spotify, in some cases, can’t tell the difference between two bands that have the same name, so merges them both into one disjointed catalogue.
Not to mention the popularity of the AI-generated The Velvet Sundown, which had a catalogue of music so bland and generic that it makes the entire work of Boyzone seem like genius. I can see a future of price hikes galore as more AI tech gets integrated into the platform.
What about a future where Netflix lets you ‘create’ a show with a prompt? “Stranger Things only Bob doesn’t die”, or “Black Mirror ironically bypassing the actual point of Black Mirror”. How much will that cost, both in money and in the slow demise of the human race?
For me, I’m opting out of every single AI option and picking the cheap options. Show companies that we won’t pay over the top for barely-useful additions, and they’ll have to listen.
