I see a clear similarity between AI chat tools and the PDF or image tools.

By “PDF tools” I mean merging PDFs, compressing PDFs, converting PDFs to other formats, etc.

By “image tools” I mean compressing images, resizing images, converting images from one format to another, etc.

Such tools are one Google search away.

We need PDF and image tools heavily in our lives. To fill stubborn forms that accept a limited file size and similar cases.

I am confident such scenarios are relevant to all the humans in the world.

But the core reality is that no individual will ever pay for such tools. Irrespective of how comprehensive they are. Only folks with privacy concerns or corporations who need to ensure that their data stay in-house pay for it.

When I hit the free limit in one of these PDF/image tools, I just hop to another tool. There is not a huge “x-factor” in these tools that I pay for the premium for extended usage.

The similar situation I am noticing with AI chat tools.

People might claim AI chat tools have some USP compared to PDF tools.

For example, ChatGPT(and other ai chatbots) can remember your chat history and customize answers to user queries based on that information.

But I do not care about such stuff enough for me to pay even just $20/month.

Yes, some AI models perform better than others for specific tasks. But again, that is not a huge factor for me and many other individual users.

I do not have any business motives from the usage of the tool. I do not care about one specific tool. Even though as a computer engineering learner(what would that even mean lol), Claude provides succinct responses to my queries, it is not enough to convince me to pay.

The only way I would ever pay for a PDF tool or AI Chatbots if they were completely premium. At that moment the clear distinction between AI chatbots and PDF tools will emerge. Hosting AI chatbots is a huge infrastructure pain. Hosting it locally is not everybody’s cup of tea. So paying for it could be absolutely necessary in that case if you are highly dependent on it.

Now, I do not know why similar blogs like this are not already written. I had been hyped about writing this since the “AI mass” era (circa 2022). But I always felt, what is the point of writing? Finally, I felt that I should just do it. It is a harmless, free blog.