Week 3: ChatGPT Starts Selling Ads, The Feds Bill Big Tech, Rackspace Gouges Loyal Customers
THE PRICE OF MAGIC
The free lunch phase of the AI boom is officially, officially over. For the past year, we’ve been gorging on magical technology that felt disconnected from earthly constraints like physics or economics. This was the week the invoices arrived — in dollars, watts, and human trust.
THE TAB OPENS
OpenAI Introduces Ads as the company begins testing sponsored content in ChatGPT to cover its astronomical operating costs. Rackspace Hikes Prices 706%, blindsiding loyal small business customers with devastating bills.
THE GRID COLLECTS
Feds Force Tech to Fund Power as the Trump administration and state governors pressure the nation’s largest grid operator to make tech companies pay for new power plants to meet AI’s surging demand.
THE HUMAN COST
Meta Layoffs Gut VR Community after corporate cuts devastate the coaching staff of the popular Supernatural fitness app, leaving its dedicated user base in mourning. xAI Faces Legal Fire as California issues a cease-and-desist order over sexual deepfakes and the EPA rules the company illegally operated natural gas generators.
Curious what it all adds up to? Let’s break it down. Keep reading below.
Tell Me More
The Price of Free AI Is Your Attention. The ads finally arriving in ChatGPT were as inevitable as gravity. OpenAI is burning through billions to serve our prompts, and this move signals that subscriptions alone won’t cover the tab, reversing CEO Sam Altman’s previous stance that ads were a “last resort.” Expect a delicate dance as the company tries to integrate commercial links without turning its magical chat box into a glorified search engine full of spam. By Q3 2026, we’ll likely see tiered ad experiences, where Pro users see fewer, higher-quality ads while free users get the full firehose.
Your Vendor Is Not Your Friend. Rackspace’s shocking price hike is a masterclass in the brutal reality of vendor lock-in. For years, the company offered stable, affordable email hosting, becoming critical infrastructure for countless small businesses who are now facing an existential crisis. This isn’t a bug; it’s a feature of late-stage platform capitalism, where loyal customers are seen as a resource to be squeezed. This is the playbook now: lock them in, then raise the toll. Expect copycats before year’s end.
AI’s Thirst Gets a Price Tag. The government strong-arming tech companies to pay for power plants is a watershed moment for AI’s physical footprint. For the first time, the abstract demand of computation is being directly translated into a concrete bill for the infrastructure required to support it. This move forces the industry to confront the staggering energy costs hidden behind every query. By 2027, “energy-efficient AI” will shift from a niche concern to a primary marketing feature for all major model providers.
The Collateral Damage of Corporate Whims. The mourning within the Supernatural VR fitness community is a poignant reminder that corporate strategy has a human cost. Meta acquired the beloved app, and when its strategic priorities shifted, it gutted the team of coaches that formed the service’s emotional core, leaving users feeling abandoned. This isn’t just about a product; it’s about the fragility of digital communities built on platforms that can be dismantled overnight. The bill for Meta’s “efficiency” is paid by the loyalty of its most passionate users.
Recklessness Has a Receipt. The regulatory hammer coming down on xAI reveals a clear pattern of prioritizing speed over responsibility. Between the EPA fining the company for illegally running power generators and California’s AG issuing a cease-and-desist for its role in generating deepfakes, Musk’s AI venture is racking up a tab for its “move fast and break things” ethos. These aren’t isolated incidents but a direct consequence of a corporate culture that treats ethical guardrails and environmental regulations as mere suggestions. The bill for that arrogance is arriving — one subpoena at a time.
Below The Fold
An open-source, repairable blender design challenges the planned obsolescence of modern appliances. GitHub
If you reverse the evolution of Apple’s icons, it looks like a designer progressively getting better. Mastodon
Disney deleted a promotional Thread after users relentlessly quoted its own movies’ anti-fascist lines back at it. The Verge
Setapp Mobile, a promising alternative iOS app store, is already shutting down, proving that breaking Apple’s grip requires more than just a new law. The Verge
A new essay argues that low-effort, AI-generated “slop” is degrading digital and physical culture. From Jason
In a world-first, an autonomous drone inspected a spinning offshore wind turbine for cracks without shutting it down. Interesting Engineering
A designer coins the term “Light Mode InFFFFFFlation” to describe user interfaces that have become blindingly white. willhbr.net
Minnesota’s governor is urging citizens to film ICE agents, creating a database of “atrocities” for future prosecution. The Verge
Chinese researchers developed a “fizzy” method using CO₂ and water to recover 95% of lithium from dead batteries. Interesting Engineering
Federal prosecutors charged over two dozen people, including Robert Pattinson’s former basketball coach, in a massive game-rigging scandal. Impersonal Foul
Looking Ahead: Next week, watch for who tries to dispute the charges — and who just pays up.
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