My half thought conspiracy: The actual hope is to get people so reliant on AI that the fee is secondary.

You're already starting to see this in news articles where, "Chat gpt says Trump's physical not possible," or that "gork calls elon top misinformation spreader."

Why are news outlets reporting on what some hallucinating AI says? To legitimize it. As people use it more they'll become more reliant on it. It'll be no different than, "just Google it "

But they aren't only going to do this to make a profit. It's more than that. It's about controlling the flow of information. Once people are reliant on it they'll adjust algorithms and black list information that doesn't benefit them.

Legitimately AI is trying to position itself to control information and by extension the realities of its users. And that is priceless.