I think one reason might be that the "horizon" of developments related to optimization and new techniques is very short. Since we're still having recurrent breakthroughs, new things are being attempted every other week. Too much money and investor attention means competition is beyond fierce, and the turn of innovation follows. I think this plays a part into the weirdly timed cooldowns, terms of service, inconsistent quality etc.
It also mimics the goldrush for training content. Acquiring content (just like gauging LLM capabilities) is too fast for even lawyers to keep up. Society as a whole kinda threw their hands up and hoped things would just solve themselves instead of the world suing itself into oblivion. So the threshold of acceptability has moved accordingly.
That is very likely one of the biggest drivers but there's a misalignment. Tasks take minutes to hours, so why such an outsized block for the system to calm down. Taking away this much availability used to be in the realms of abuse bans, not day to day operation.
I have other services I can turn to so I currently just switch providers but a glorified paid trial is pretty unsatisfying if the experience is being cut off for weeks at a time. API's don't go that route now but neither did subs (although I see the big difference in motivation to not cut-off api users).
Yes, I'm aware with what options I have, they've been detailed quite thoroughly in the many other threads on this topic. The question is about understanding the trend of week long cut-offs.
"Weekly caps feel like a psychological nudge toward higher tiers rather than a genuine resource constraint. The industry collectively normalized it because it works."
This feels like it is way more on point than I'd want it to be but at the same time it's broadcasting that you'll get continually enshittified with us so don't invest too much in being a long term customer. People don't really like feeling like they're being ripped or sold a bill of goods that won't deliver and that experience follows them when they get to make bigger decisions with bigger wallets at stake.
I think one reason might be that the "horizon" of developments related to optimization and new techniques is very short. Since we're still having recurrent breakthroughs, new things are being attempted every other week. Too much money and investor attention means competition is beyond fierce, and the turn of innovation follows. I think this plays a part into the weirdly timed cooldowns, terms of service, inconsistent quality etc.
It also mimics the goldrush for training content. Acquiring content (just like gauging LLM capabilities) is too fast for even lawyers to keep up. Society as a whole kinda threw their hands up and hoped things would just solve themselves instead of the world suing itself into oblivion. So the threshold of acceptability has moved accordingly.
I don't like it but it is what it is :/
It's probably a capacity problem, but we need to speak up for something better.
That is very likely one of the biggest drivers but there's a misalignment. Tasks take minutes to hours, so why such an outsized block for the system to calm down. Taking away this much availability used to be in the realms of abuse bans, not day to day operation.
there isnt something better. theyre money losing divices and unless they addict the user with promises of efficiency, they wont make money.
the market is distorted. more AI datacenters will be disasters for local ecosystems, but might serve a few more people.
however, if these things truly do the work of 100x they only need 1 guy . do you think youll be that guy?
almost everything in the gridt economy says if you cant throw money at it, youll be priced out.
if you dont have a local strategy, youll be SOL
You can still buy tokens direct from the API. The subscription model is not much more than a glorified paid trial.
I have other services I can turn to so I currently just switch providers but a glorified paid trial is pretty unsatisfying if the experience is being cut off for weeks at a time. API's don't go that route now but neither did subs (although I see the big difference in motivation to not cut-off api users).
Just cancel your subscription.
Yes, I'm aware with what options I have, they've been detailed quite thoroughly in the many other threads on this topic. The question is about understanding the trend of week long cut-offs.
"Weekly caps feel like a psychological nudge toward higher tiers rather than a genuine resource constraint. The industry collectively normalized it because it works."
This feels like it is way more on point than I'd want it to be but at the same time it's broadcasting that you'll get continually enshittified with us so don't invest too much in being a long term customer. People don't really like feeling like they're being ripped or sold a bill of goods that won't deliver and that experience follows them when they get to make bigger decisions with bigger wallets at stake.