alt Hacker NewsBut nobody really pays the 3x (ie. api) rates, except for enterprises. Everyone else are using the consumption plans, which are heavily discounted[1], possibly cheaper than even the chinese models, which don't do consumption plan discounts. Even in your linked reddit thread, the OP agreed with this sentiment.
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There are many consuming APIs for Hermes.
I have paid API rates. I needed AI to cleanup file space and I didn't want to gamble with the alignment of Chinese models.
For now. We've seen this pattern play out literally a hundred times in tech and you're incredibly naive if you think this will last forever. And what is your point? It should be okay for US consumers if the US government illegalizes accessing open-weight models within their borders because they're currently getting a subsidized token rate?
Psh. Enterprises. There can't be more than a couple of them out there.