Just to add the cost-per-query may not be a temporary blip. ChatGPT's cost per query is based on a static base model trained over a year ago. Imagine the energy and compute that might be required to add meaningful personalization or an up to date index, or if there were to be a repeat of something like the search engine document count wars of the late 90s/early 00s. Training ChatGPT is estimated to cost between $2-$12 million per run ( https://old.reddit.com/r/MachineLearning/comments/hwfjej/d_t... )