The generative AI future will not be free

Fri, 01/19/2024 - 05:00

Laura Labovich, background, and her children Asher, right, 13, and Emerson, left, 10, with the family — Laura Labovich, background, and her children Asher, right, 13, and Emerson, left, 10, with an Alexa speaker in Bethesda, MD.
Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Many of our favorite internet services have been free for years.
With generative AI, the era of free may end. Get ready to pay.
It costs a lot to build AI models. And Big Tech companies are looking for new earnings streams.

In 2009, Silicon Valley luminary Chris Anderson went on The Colbert Show to talk about a book he'd written.

In "Free, the Future of a Radical Price," he explained how online distribution would mean many digital products and services would be given away for nothing.