The hidden cost of expensive AI subscriptions (it's not just the money)

The Hidden Cost of Expensive AI Subscriptions (It's Not Just the Money) When ChatGPT launched its $20/month subscription, the conversation was all about price. Twenty dollars a month. Is it worth it? Can I afford it? But the conversation missed something important: the hidden cost isn't the money. It's what happens when you make a tool too expensive for most of the world to use. The Two-Tier AI World We're Building Right now, there are roughly two kinds of developers: Developers in high-income countries, where $20/month is a rounding error on a lunch bill Developers in Lagos, Nairobi, Manila, Karachi, Jakarta — where $20/month represents days of income We're building a two-tier world where the most powerful cognitive tools are reserved for the already-privileged. And we're calling it "access." The Compounding Disadvantage Here's what makes this insidious: AI tools don't just help you code faster. They help you learn. They help you debug. They help you understand systems you've never se