"Go ask 30 people off the street to set up LM studio and get it using tools to search the web"

They won't need to do that. All they'll need to do is use one of the sites/services set up by folks like you and me, who can set up an LM studio.

They will go and pay OpenAI and be done with it

Not if OpenAI models refuse to do the thing they want done.

That’s when they turn to (extra) sketchy websites or just throw their hands up and give up.

I just feel like some of you are inadvertently advocating for “only the most determined should be allowed to participate.”

Yeah there's that. There's also, ask my nephew that fixes the printer.

	▲	Forgeties79 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		As I said another comment, this all just feels like everyone inadvertently saying “only the most dedicated should be given direct access to these tools.” I wouldn’t be necessarily against that if the alternative wasn’t yet another privacy-violating subscription minefield dominating 99% of the landscape. That’s what that road leads to. Barriers -> Less participation -> less created outside the prescribed corporate play pen -> more people in the play pen.