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Comment by izzydata | Hacker News Reader

Unless something fundamentally changes I don't see myself ever spending a single dollar on LLMs.

If this whole endeavor somehow becomes profitable it will be a miracle.

I really don't mean this in any negative way, but I find it fascinating the wide range of opinions and attitudes in this matter. I find it _so_ hard to imagine having this view myself.

The amount of things I've learned by asking very specific, technical questions to ChatGPT (mostly with web search turned on, but some times it's not even necessary) - things I can immediately verify and/or use, such as small bash commands/scripts, visualizations, diagrams. The value of that, alone, is certainly in the hundreds of dollars per month. Things I would never learn because they are buried somewhere among the 30 answers/comments, sometimes pointing to 20 more terribly-hard-to-read pages or manuals riddled with irrelevant (for my question) content, somewhere in the first page of web search results... maybe it's an attention span question? I certainly won't spend more than 10 minutes reading anything if not's interesting or required in the most extreme sense of the word way for my job (books on quantum mechanics, general relativity, topology, all fall in the former category - bash and pandas documentation fall in neither).

I'm convinced I've saved _at least_ low thousands per week by using coding assistants (mostly Claude Code in my case, but that's personal and likely to change at some point), as evidenced by the amount of work I'm able to finish, get paid for, and maintain. I'm not vibe coding, mind you - most of the time, I have an almost complete mental model of what I want after a couple of hours thinking, and the only thing left to do is type the code, at which point I'd, previously, feel bored, since the fun part (the thinking) is over.

Edit: I have 20 years of experience with code, 15 in the industry as a SWE (been coding since I was 13)

I find it's either people being flippantly dismissive because it's something they've decided to make part of their personality and refuse to consume any information that may challenge their opinion, or they just massively lack imagination and creativity both on what it can do but also what it could do in 1, 5, or 20 years.

If it does so much more in 5 or 20 years I would categorize that is something fundamentally changing.

I think the issue is that local LLMs are improving so fast even if the free hosted ones disappeared today most people probably wouldn't pay.

I have had no trouble finding solutions to coding problems by normal searches very quickly. The solution is typically right there in API documentation or one of the first few results.

But I suppose that answers how they may make LLMs profitable. They could cripple or even eliminate normal search until paying for LLMs is the only option.

Our chats might soon look something like this

Human: Provide some weight loss tips

AI: I'll get right on it! But before I do, have you had dinner yet? KFC's new finger-licking MEGA feast will bust your hunger for only $19.95. Click here to order.

Me too! Except I wondered why my non-tech wife had stopped complaining about ChatGPT limits, and it turns out she has quietly been subscribing to Pro plan. It's happening.

The biggest takeaway from LLMs may be finally figuring out how to monetize search.

I have used both free and paid Google Gemini. I'm as cheap as can be. Im back to the free because it's good enough, and presumably getting better.

If they took away the free, I'd pay $20 and be thankful they kept it at $20.

I love doing things myself.. I mow my lawn, change my oil, change my water heater, and try to never use frameworks or libraries. But not using LLMs seems insane. If they weren't free, you wouldn't use them?

The majority of the time I’ve used an LLM, it’s failed to do the task properly. The times that it worked are the times that a bit of Googling would have solved. I’m not OP, but I’m not at the point where I would spend money on an LLM either.

I have almost never had an LLM not do the task I wanted. Either I'm asking it very easy things (not really, you definitely couldnt Google the entire task of what I wanted, although obviously each tiny subsection you could), or it's important to scope what you're asking for well.

But as a general statement, you cant just Google a comprehensive summary about beta glucans from chanterelle mushrooms, dosages, cooking methods, immune benefits and processes and get a 10 minute read about exactly what you asked for. But with Gemini deep research you can.

I’ve started with tasks that I understand at an expert level myself. The LLM has invariably gotten surface-level work correct and subtle details wrong. Given those errors, I’m not willing to use them for things I don’t understand.

LLMs are good at generating text that sounds authoritative. They’re great for creative writing to share for a laugh with friends. I’m not at the point where I’m willing to use them for important work, let alone pay for them.

(I’ve yet to try them as a coding assistant, though. Maybe that’s the missing link.)

I've done this too and sure it's not perfect. But it's better than the average person in my industry. So, 1, that means a decent chunk of my industry could use it and be about as good as they are now.

2, unless I magically have a plan for talking to an expert in HVAC repair, and not just an idiot in HVAC, I can diagnose my HVAC unit with AI just fine. And I did. And no it wasn't as simple as "well duh, every post online says it's the large capacitor".

A lot of people don’t spend a single dollar on Instagram either.

I don't think these huge data centers are going to rely on individual users using them

perhaps by the slippery slope/funnel of free convenience -> paid 'necessity'?

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