> the operators who have no aligned incentives

The model providers are quite aligned with concerns like customer retention. These arguments only work if there is no competition. We exist in a marketplace of black boxes. There's not just "the one" you must suffer. You have options. You can build your own too.

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boredumb 4 hours ago | parent [-]

there are roughly three of them and they all use the same pricing model. I am also not in the position to build a frontier model company these days.

	▲	olibhel an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		You could try: 1. Self hosting 2. Chinese models 3. Running it locally. Requires upfront cost and compromises on TPS.
	▲	hn_throwaway_99 2 hours ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		A per-token model roughly aligns with the providers' costs, and it is an objective measure, so it seems a reasonable way to charge. I see posts all the time on HN about which models from which providers offer the most bang-for-the-buck, and how to minimize token usage and still get optimal results, so it appears that competition is working.
	▲	surgical_fire 3 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		There are more than 3. Hell, I use 3 different providers, and I currently don't give a dime to Anthropic or OpenAI.