The Costs of AI

Thanks for signing up for Previously on Tech. Each week I'll curate 5 interesting pieces of content from the previous week. Feel free to take it all in at once or comeback and read a bit each day. I'll send out a new list every Friday. Let me know what you think on each item.

There is a lot of money going into AI tools and their development. I'm no financial expert, but it feels unsustainable. Or maybe we are in the beginning of a transcendent technology. I don't know. That's all to say this week has a theme focusing on actual and hidden costs of AI.

🎧 Listen
The Claude Code Problem 
The AI Daily Brief
Claude announced new pricing changes to their coding platform recently. Their reasoning was some users were spending 10s of thousands of dollars on costs on $200 a month plans. My fear is we'll get reliant on these tools and get rug pulled on the cost.

📰 Article
Read That F*cking Code!
etsd.tech 
Will AI make us dumber. It is pretty impressive what AI can do from a development standpoint, but what do we lose by relying on it too much. This article does an excellent job explaining vibe-coding practices more eloquently than I could.

📰 Article
How AI tools can become a time and cost trap
Mark Zimmerman
I've been thinking a lot lately about how to use AI more strategically. This article does a good job exposing some of the hidden costs of fiddling with AI tools and proposes a few way to avoid falling into those traps.

📰 Article
ChatGPT’s mobile app has generated $2B to date, earns $2.91 per install 
Sarah Perez
ChatGPT is raking it in on the mobile app and blowing away its competitors. Though Anthropic's revenue per download isn't lagging too far behind.

📚 Deep Dive
Co-Intelligence
Ethan Mollick
A quick listen (or read) on your commute. Co-Intelligence is a good introduction into how we can use AI based tools to accentuate our abilities. Using AI in a way to extend your own thinking as a coach and teacher are some of the bigger things that stuck with me. It is also a good introduction into understanding how AI actually works and what it is.

Thanks for reading.

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