Why do people think AI models are “free”?

It’s like “Hey, I used 100.00 dollars worth of electricity to create a piece of art that would have been commercially viable. Oh good, I didn’t have to pay for the software or the hardware that was created to generate it, it’s free! I’m not going to buy a house, I’m just going to trash the neighbors’ house and live there to save money.”<br><br>It’s like that.<br><br>Everyone keeps saying that the models are “free”, but what does that even mean? I get “free” as far as you didn’t have yourself pay for a license or a software or a copier or whatever, but they’re not “free”. They’re costing our collective society billions of dollars every year to develop, train, and run. Billions of dollars of somebody’s electricity. <br><br>Are you ever going to be able to go into a business and say “Oh no, I want that necklace, but I want it for free.” Yeahhhh, the idea is that if you gave it to me for free, I’d probably be a little more willing to come back and buy something, so what if I trade you. <br><br>I’d like that necklace, please, but I want it for free, so I’m going to give you that necklace and now have you do all the work as a jeweler, to get all the gold, to make the necklace, and you can’t sell it, because I’m making it for free. And then you’re going to give it to me. I didn’t pay you anything. I didn’t help you.<br><br>What does it mean to say “Oh, but I gave you a social media post or whatever, so I’m not doing it for free?” You’re not going to buy anything from me. You don’t like the newsletter. You’re never going to buy a piece of artwork. You don’t like the newsletter. You’re never going to buy a piece of artwork. You don’t like the newsletter, you’re never going to buy a piece of artwork. <br><br>What does it mean to say “This is free”?<br><br>What does that even mean? How does that even make sense? So the next time you bring up the fact that a model is “free”, actually think about what that even means, because it’s not.