[pjc50]

> Any AI product I pay for is great. Any AI product I don't pay for is terrible.

This doesn't sound like the "free sample" model is working then? If I try the free version of product X and it's terrible, that will discourage me from ever trying the paid version.

[wvenable]

I think half the people who think AI is incredibly dumb and can't understand why anyone is using it is because they're using the free samples. This whole thing is so horribly expensive that they lose money even on people who pay therefore the free samples are necessarily as minimal as they can get away with.

The free samples worked famously initially to get people to try it initially, though.

But whenever that free Gemini text pops up in my search, I know why people think it's stupid. But that's not the experience I have with paid options.