Alex Finn@AlexFinn
In a few weeks the most powerful AI model of all time Claude Mythos will release
This makes me deeply nervous
Not because of cybersecurity risks or anything like that
But because it will quite obviously be significantly more expensive which will cause the wealth gap to explode
Let me explain
First the obvious: tokens aren’t getting cheaper. In fact, they’re getting significantly more expensive
Almost every new version of ChatGPT and Claude brings a slight bump in price over the last one
And plans haven’t been going down either, they’re only coming out with more expensive ones.
ChatGPT Pro plan for $250 a month. Claude Max for $200.
GPUs, RAM, CPUs all going up in price.
And now Mythos, which the leaked blog post hinted won’t even be included in a plan. It will only be in the API for what will be an astronomical cost.
And do you seriously doubt this won’t lead to an upcoming $2,000 a month Ultra plan that every other AI company will immediately copy?
It’s one thing to make luxury items more expensive. It’s another thing to make intelligence more expensive.
Intelligence that is critical to getting ahead in a crumbling economy.
Let’s just call it what it is: using AI gives you an advantage against everyone else. Those with AI are keeping their jobs. Those not using AI are losing their jobs
Now a new level of intelligence that will only be accessible to the rich is coming out.
Only the rich will be able to use this super intelligence to create more economic value than others.
What happens to the people that can’t afford Mythos? Or ChatGPT 6? They are left with a major disadvantage in the economic battlefield.
Then on top of that, both OpenAI and Anthropic are going to IPO this year (it’s killing the middle class that this didn’t happen years ago, but that’s another story)
They both are heavily incentivized right now to explode revenue as much as they can. They both are incentivized to make these new models as expensive as humanly possible.
The middle class is already gutted. A middle class without access to the intelligence that the upper class will have will only gut them further.
If a job position is between someone in the middle class with Claude Sonnet, and someone in the upper class with Claude Mythos, the Claude Mythos candidate with 100% get the job. It’s like a ballet dancer getting in a weight lifting competition with someone on insane amounts of steroids.
Or say someone with Claude Opus has a genius idea for a business, and someone with Claude Mythos gets the same one. The one with Claude Mythos will release a significantly better product much much faster, crushing the person with Opus.
I’m very pro-capitalist. In fact, I might be a radical capitalist. But at the same time this country (and this world) needs a middle class.
I don’t know the answers or solution. There probably isn’t one.
I honestly don’t even know what I’m trying to achieve with this post. I just have gotten incredibly scared over the last few days thinking about this scenario.
I think the best plan of action at the moment is to just create as much economic value as you possibly can right now. (Ethically) earn as much money as possible. Save everything. If you want to compete in the future, you’re going to need to be able to afford the top tier intelligence. It’s critical for you and your family to survive.
But in the meantime, don’t let anyone tell you intelligence is going to become “too cheap to meter”.