They probably never intended to keep serving cheap models. This is a natural way to introduce the squeeze, now that they have people who built services on their API. It makes a lot of sense to have an abstraction layer where the provider doesn't matter. If you are working in Kotlin, Koog is excellent.
I think the big 3 are cartelizing and starting to ratchet up costs. GPT5.5 is not easily distinguishable from 5.1. I would it be shocked if we hit the ceiling and everyone is quietly positioning for the exit.
switching models is insanely cheap compared to token cost on anything signficant, this is a take so cynical it misses the reality
in any corporate or half compliance-relevant setting switching isn't trivial. new DPA, subprocessor notifications, TIA, procurement review, security questionnaires, plus re-running your evals because prompts don't transfer 1:1. token cost is just one of the line items.
no it really not, even the soggiest bank has multiple api vendors atm.
I agree with parent. I'm not sure where your stance is coming from.
From what I hear, most enterprise AI deployments are seat-based subscriptions with annual commitments.
50K FTE global firm. We’re still piloting ChatGPT. AI is a four-letter word and there are ridiculous ceremonies and hundreds of hours of overhead for every trivial use case.
Amusingly, Enterprise credits are more expensive than just paying a zero-commitment on-demand API fee. Personal accounts are still the best value.
Yes, I work at a 50 person startup and even here switching from CC to codex or cursor would be non-trivial for multiple reasons - not just the annual commitment.
> now that they have people who built services on their API
People really can’t wait to be the next Zynga