The practical value is there, if they managed to keep the price at the current levels or lower.

But if they don't and if I have to think twice about how much every request's going to cost, the cost-benefit analysis will look differently fast.

Yeah that's another rub. The current price is basically there in the hopes that in the future they can find revenue streams to maintain their current pace.

But even if the big companies ultimately go belly up, I think the open models are good enough that we'll likely see pretty cheap AI available for a while, even if it's not as good as the STOA when the bankruptcies roll through.