Except that LLMs doesn't benefit from economies of scale. And they don't have that much brand uniqueness, to retain customers, except some hearsay and "vibes". So if a lot of new free tier customers join it is net negative, because each of their queries has the same load as paid users. And company can't degrade LLM too much, because there is no uniqueness and free customers will just flee to the competitor.

I'm thinking that this ClosedAI strategy is not primarily focused on acquiring new independent users, but more focused at making itself deeply entrenched everywhere. So when the "payday" comes and the immense debt will be due, Sam will just ask ask government to bail them out because they would depend on them a lot, and it will. Maybe not directly bail, but provide new investments with favorable terms, etc.