I think it’s inevitable that these AI’s will end up costing almost nothing to use and will be available to everybody. GPT-4 is already less than $1 / day and that’s only going to go down.
but only the Government has access to it uncensored.
> The internal IBM reaction could be characterized as quiet, smug elation. One office is supposed to have sold its yearly quota on A (Announcement) -Day. In Texas, a man allegedly interrupted the 360 presentation to demand he be allowed to order one right then . . . which sounds like a combination plant and a new version of the rich Texan jokes. ...
> the 360 announcement has to worry the competition considerably . . . partly because anything new from IBM creates an automatic bandwagon effect, partly because the completeness of the new line offers less reason for people to look outside. ...
> another feels that the economic incentive (rental cuts of 50 per cent for 7080, 7090) will force him down the 360 route. And he thinks 360 interrupt features will open the door to real-time applications which can be approached on an incremental basis impossible before. ...
> One maverick doesn’t share the enthusiasm of his company, which ordered “plenty” of 360’s within an hour of the announcement, without price agreements.
And from https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_Electronic9640504_9809... :
> Other computer manufacturers profess to be unworried, but International Business Machines Corp. has received millions of dollars in orders for its system/360 computer [Electronics, April 20, p. 101].
Here are some of the people who paid for it in 1964:
https://archive.org/details/sim_computers-and-people_1964_13...
> "Men's Fashion Firm Orders IBM System/360 Computer," 13/7 (July)
> "Score of IBM System/360's to be Leased by Paper Company,” 13/8 (Aug.)
The Albert Government Telephone Commission bought two: https://archive.org/details/annualreportofa1964albe_0/page/1...
I think these new AIs will follow similar curves. Hard to get access to and expensive to use at first. Over time they will get more powerful and less expensive. GPT4 is already less than $1 / day.
In 1964 it made no sense to say "I'm concerned about who will get access to it (or rather who won't get access to it) and what it will cost or who will pay for it" about the IBM 360 because that system was available to the same customers as the previous generation of machines, plus it made computing more widely affordable to other customers.
While Gemini appears to be more expensive than thus less generally available than other LLMs.