Daily Digest: Free AI coding in 2023

It's real, but at what cost?

October 10, 2023

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Daily Digest #259

Hello folks, today marks 1 year since I started Ben’s Bites - thanks so much for being on this journey with us. We’re not slowing down any time soon! ❤️

Here’s what we have today;

PICKS

  1. Replit AI for All - Replit is bringing the AI treats early this Halloween. AI features like code completion and assistance will now be available for all users on their platform, not just paid Pro accounts. 🍿Our Summary (also below)

  2. Big Tech is searching for AI profits. They haven't found it yet and are now experimenting with new ways to produce, market and charge for AI tools to capitalize on the technology's promise while avoiding losses. 🍿Our Summary (also below)

  3. ChatGPT makes record revenue on mobile. ChatGPT’s mobile app is becoming quite the cash cow for Open AI. In September, the iOS and Android app for ChatGPT brought $4.58 million together in revenue. However, the rate of growth is slowing down over the months. 🍿Our Summary (also below)

TOP TOOLS

  • Runway Academy - Library of tutorials and deep dive for AI video tools.

  • Hotshot - Create high quality GIFs with AI.

  • Agent Protocol - A single common interface for communicating with agents.

  • Pipeless - An open-source computer vision framework to build and deploy apps in minutes without worrying about multimedia pipelines.

  • Creatormind - Chatbot for your blog, substack or newsletter easily.

  • Canonica AI - LLM generated Wikipedia-like articles.

  • Lensgo - Apply custom video styles to all your wonders.

NEWS
QUICK BITES

Replit is bringing the AI treats early this Halloween. AI features like code completion and assistance will now be available for all users on their platform, not just paid Pro accounts.

What is going on here?

Replit is releasing its AI capabilities to all its 23M+ users for free.

What does this mean?

The common coder just hit the jackpot baby! Chaps on the free plan will have access to our basic AI features. Replit has also trained a new model, replit-code-v1.5-3b to power these new features in this massive rollout. This 3B parameter model is optimized for programming in 30 languages. Replit is claiming SOTA performance with this model among the 3B parameter models.

For the Pro users, it’s business as usual: they will get exclusive access to the most powerful AI models(which Amjad has said is GPT-4 right now) and advanced features.

Why should I care?

Replit is letting go of the Ghostwriter brand to make AI and Replit synonymous. It is treating AI completion as autocorrect in a docs editor. Sure the free version may not be as juiced up, but it's a start. The native experience of coding will AI change how most developers create software and Replit be hookin' everybody up!

QUICK BITES

Big tech titans like Microsoft and Google are pouring billions into developing artificial intelligence. But it ain’t free. The companies are scrambling to turn AI hype into actual profits. They are fiddling with new ways to produce, market and charge for AI tools to capitalize on the technology's promise while avoiding losses.

What is going on here?

Tech giants are losing money or uncertain how to profit from generative AI despite massive investments.

What does this mean?

The costs of computation, infrastructure, and energy make it difficult to generate profits from AI products and assistants even with high subscription fees. Case in point is Github Copilot. Even though Copilot is a paid product at $10/month, the rumour is Microsoft lost an additional $20 per user monthly on average.

Now, Microsoft 365 with AI copilot will have a jacked up price point of $30. Google will also charge $30 on top of normal fees for its new AI-powered software features. Adobe uses a credit system to cap the usage of its AI image generator. Zoom uses cheap, knock-off AIs for most of their work to avoid premium pricing.

Why should I care?

There is still uncertainty around optimal business models. Valuations have soared based on AI hype, not proven revenue generation. The pricing models from Big Tech and VC-funded startups might influence how you price your startup’s AI products. Just keep in mind that these companies have other sources of funds that can subsidize acquiring these users at a loss.

Though, don’t let it stop ya. There are plenty of users who are ready to pay premium prices for the AI boost to their life and work.

QUICK BITES

ChatGPT’s mobile app is becoming quite the cash cow for Open AI. In September, the iOS and Android app for ChatGPT brought $4.58 million together in revenue. However, the rate of growth is slowing down over the months.

What is going on here?

ChatGPT set monthly records for app downloads (15.6 million) and revenue ($4.58 million) in September 2023.

What does this mean?

ChatGPT's mobile revenue continues to climb each month, from $2.1 million in June to $2.74 million in July, $3.81 million in August, and now $4.58 million in September. However, revenue growth slowed to 20% that month, down from 31% in July and 39% in August.

ChatGPT saw 15.6 million installs in September, bringing its total to 52.2 million. While Google Play is driving downloads, the App Store is driving revenue - $3 million of in-app purchases last month. The U.S. accounts for 60% of ChatGPT's revenues.

Why should I care?

People are eager to jump on the train that slowing revenue growth indicates ChatGPT may be reaching saturation. The more insightful aspect of looking at it is how much people care about the plus-only app features. Right now, Plugins and Advance Data Analysis are only available on desktop. The new voice chat mode (that’s still rolling out to users) might boost this number to new heights again. After all the low traffic demand for ChatGPT web in summer turned out to be a vacation dip—the students didn’t have homework to keep AI busy.

Unclassifieds - short, sponsored links

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