The True Cost of AI
OpenAI's new pricing structure for AI agents is revealing:
- Low-end agents: $2,000/month for data analysis and report generation
- Mid-tier agents: $10,000/month for autonomous coding and debugging
- High-end agents: $20,000/month for PhD-level research tasks
These numbers are higher than expected. The assumption that AI costs a fraction of human labor may not hold at enterprise scale.
The Subsidy Question
Remember when Lyft offered $5 ride promos and BlueApron sent $50 discount coupons? Those were heavily subsidized by venture capital to capture market share quickly. Something similar may be happening with AI.
Current AI pricing might be artificially low due to VC funding. Tech companies have been absorbing massive compute and R&D costs to build market share. When these subsidies end - as they inevitably do - enterprise AI prices could rise significantly.
OpenAI's new tiers suggest we're moving toward pricing that reflects actual operational costs rather than subsidized rates. The age of cheap AI may be ending sooner than expected.