Half as good and tenth of the cost is a good replacement. I constantly make those choices myself when purchasing things.
You can feel it with AI-generated content and responses, in AI-generated art, customer service bots and vibe-coded software. This gradual worsening of everything won't lead to lower prices or a better experience, so it's not really a tradeoff.
Now every toilet on the market only flushes number one. But hey, they're so much cheaper.