We already know software companies are intentionally making their products shittier to drive profits. Google making their search worse to increase the number of times people have to search (so they see more ads) is a good example.

There is absolutely no reason to not think AI companies aren't doing the same. Dial in the accuracy so that each tier is only so useful, constantly and subtlety encouraging you to pay a little more for just a few more queries because "the next prompt will make it work, I'm sure this time!"