I have another reason. A bunch of “AI” functionality is currently free as in beer to end users. ChatGPT, Microsoft image creator, built in shit on your phone, etc, etc.

YouTube used to be free, too, and without ads. Look at it now. The business model of “make a thing and offer it for free, then start charging for it later once you’ve cornered the market” works.

I’d love to know why people working in this space assume we don’t know these things.

There’s not enough ad revenue in the world to whole hog support AI as it is now in the foreseeable future when people already can’t afford to buy things.