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Ask HN: Why is Claude Code so cheap?

2 points

12 hours ago

| 2 comments

It makes no sense to me as I see the price of my token usage reach and surpass the $1k mark. This has to be a bet. And the bet is that those of us who become very good ad building things with the help of AI, are helping make it so good that we will both become incalculably more productive over time, and we will teach it all our processes, and the ways in which it fails and how to recover, and everything else. To the point where we get so hooked (ie our productivity drops to pitiful levels that you're no longer completive, as in your employer will fire you within a month).

This will make AI table stakes, you won't live without it, and that is when prices will start reflecting the actual cost. And there will be nothing we can do about it.

As an engineer that sees the value in what we do, and also the value AI is adding to my workflows, I am very conflicted and don't know what do think, or how to help others navigate this.

For me, I am going to use my mountains of knowledge and experience (which goes beyond SWE) and build better products faster, while I have a lead on AI, so that hopefully I am at a position where I don't care if AI replaces my present skills. I the future, my worries should be if AI will replace my business (or businesses).

What are your thoughts?

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german_dong

11 hours ago

[-]

Anthropic, like most frontier companies, have more money than they know what to do with. When the prize is world domination, turning a profit isn't high on their todo list. Twenty dollars per month is the bare minimum hurdle to prevent DoS bots from ruining it for the rest of us.

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functionmouse

11 hours ago

[-]

first hit is always free

They're trying to get the world addicted to their new, digital proof-of-work smack, so they can charge rent for prod like Microsoft has been doing for the past 3 decades.