The $200 plan that lets you burn $8,000 in tokens, and the bill coming due (blog.dshr.org)
David Rosenthal calls it the drug-dealer's algorithm: subsidize usage to build dependence, then move customers from flat subscriptions to metered token pricing. He cites OpenAI's 2025 numbers — $13.07B revenue against $34B in costs.
The thread's top objection: nobody knows the per-token margin, so the 40x/70x 'subsidy' could just be API prices that are wildly inflated. But the corporate anecdotes were brutal — Fortune 200 engineers watched the AI taps shut off the moment the bills landed.
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