[heisig]

Oh, it very much is a big deal. In a setting where users can switch models easily and with no downsides, market forces will give us better and cheaper AI over time. If switching models is painful (as in, losing part of your context), the providers can create vendor lock-in, enshittify the user experience, and drive up cost. Even if there are workarounds right now, those AI providers have every incentive to make freedom-seekers more miserable over time.

It is disheartening that some AI companies are now setting the stage for enshittification. I hope we can collectively dodge that bullet.

[dspillett]

> It is disheartening that some AI companies are now setting the stage for enshittification.

Now?! I find it very hard to beleive that plans for enshittification haven't existed from quite early on. At some point they are going to have to do something about https://isaiprofitable.com/ and once they are extracting from you to fill that hole they won't want you jumping ship.

[skybrian]

The coding agent I use (Shelley on exe.dev) has a pulldown menu where you choose the LLM when starting a new conversation. There is no lock-in. Conversations are not precious.

Although, I do use ChatGPT more nowadays because their subscriptions work with Shelley. Sometimes I try other models after I hit the weekly cap on the subscription.