# As an individual, are there any AI subscriptions worth getting **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Tags:** ai\ **Created:** [December 12, 2024, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-an-individual-are-there-any-ai-subscriptions-worth-getting/1011541 "2024-12-12T07:32:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2024, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-an-individual-are-there-any-ai-subscriptions-worth-getting/1011541/1 "2024-12-12T07:32:58Z")
As an individual using it for personal use, vs a business using it. OpenAI and Claude are both $20/month. poe(dot)com is around $10-20 a month. Has anyone bought a subscription and do you feel it is worth it over the free versions? ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2024, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-an-individual-are-there-any-ai-subscriptions-worth-getting/1011541/2 "2024-12-12T11:24:22Z")
I’m in the process of evaluating Copilot. It works across our entire Office 365 footprint so it can consolidate from OneDrive, Teams, SharePoint, and Outlook. I’m working through same of the sample use cases, but just summarizing Teams meeting schedules and creating action items automatically is worth it. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2024, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-an-individual-are-there-any-ai-subscriptions-worth-getting/1011541/3 "2024-12-12T11:35:51Z")
Depends what you want it for. ChatGPT is fairly restrictive in what you can do for free. I paid the 20 bucks once just to see what I could get out of it. If you want to make a lot of images or help coding or proofreading manuscripts or things like that, it might be worth it. Cheaper than paying a human assistant, that’s for sure. If you’re literally just chatting with the thing about whatever, probably not. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2024, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-an-individual-are-there-any-ai-subscriptions-worth-getting/1011541/4 "2024-12-12T12:27:00Z")
I pay for a ChatGPT subscription (the $20 one, not the $200 one) and use it several times a day. It’s largely (maybe 80%) replaced Google for me. i use it for everything from work (computer programming) to history and law questions (it’s really good at understanding natural language, though its statistical output isn’t always right, so always double check factual inquiries), to coming up with trivia questions (it’s strangely good at that), to simple summaries of websites and documents. It doesn’t have the depth of knowledge of a true expert or reference, but it has amazing breadth. It’s also much easier to ask it a question than to try to come up with a good term for Google search. Natural language and no SEO spam. I haven’t really bothered to compare it to other services. I’d guess they’re all better or worse at some task or another and that the rankings change every few months. It’s good enough and very worth it to me I prefer ChatGPT’s simple, unintrusive chat app over the annoying in-your-face approach that Google, Microsoft, and Apple are doing to try to shove their offerings down your throat. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2024, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-an-individual-are-there-any-ai-subscriptions-worth-getting/1011541/5 "2024-12-12T13:07:18Z")
I’d steer clear of this one > **[Losing our voice? Fears AI tone-shifting tech could flatten communication](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/dec/11/ai-tone-shifting-tech-could-flatten-communication-apple-intelligence?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other)** > > As Apple Intelligence rollout continues, linguists say tools to rewrite texts and emails add ‘extra layer of inauthenticity’ ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2024, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-an-individual-are-there-any-ai-subscriptions-worth-getting/1011541/6 "2024-12-12T14:06:33Z")
I have long joked about “have your computer call my computer and they’ll do lunch.” Sounds like it’s about to happen for real. I’ll have my phone artificially generate text to send to you to be read aloud to you by your phone’s artificially generated voice. And you (or rather your AI “assistant”) will do the same in return. Progress!! 🤪 ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2024, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-an-individual-are-there-any-ai-subscriptions-worth-getting/1011541/7 "2024-12-12T14:31:19Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > I’d steer clear of this one > > [Losing our voice? Fears AI tone-shifting tech could flatten communication | Social trends | The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/dec/11/ai-tone-shifting-tech-could-flatten-communication-apple-intelligence?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other) > [@](#): > > […] linguists say tools to rewrite texts and emails add ‘extra layer of inauthenticity’ Well, that’s kinda relative, isn’t it? Compared to your average CEO or politician, I’d argue the AIs are much more authentic 🙂 Compared to a good writer, maybe not. But for the average “I only talk in acronyms and emoji and surprised-face videos” online kid, maybe it can help them express themselves more clearly…? ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2024, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-an-individual-are-there-any-ai-subscriptions-worth-getting/1011541/8 "2024-12-12T14:33:21Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Sounds like it’s about to happen for real. I’ll have my phone artificially generate text to send to you to be read aloud to you by your phone’s artificially generated voice. Lol, this already happens to me several times a week. My phone (Pixel) will automatically wait in the background whenever I’m placed on hold. Once the human on the other line comes back online, it’ll start ringing me again while it makes _them_ wait with a message like “OK, please hold a second. I’m letting Reply know you’ve returned.” Or at least what _sounds_ like a human on the other end. It really won’t be long until it’s just chatbots assisting each other. Whoda thunk Skynet would be so gossipy. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2024, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-an-individual-are-there-any-ai-subscriptions-worth-getting/1011541/9 "2024-12-12T16:20:50Z")
The question I have is whether what I provide to the AI will be used by it or others or will my content remain confidential. ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2024, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-an-individual-are-there-any-ai-subscriptions-worth-getting/1011541/10 "2024-12-12T16:31:35Z")
This is one of the advantages of Copilot (the business version, not consumer). Nothing leaves your corporate instance and no training is done on your data that is shared with others. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2024, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-an-individual-are-there-any-ai-subscriptions-worth-getting/1011541/11 "2024-12-12T18:22:18Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > The question I have is whether what I provide to the AI will be used by it or others or will my content remain confidential. Generally speaking, the free plans will harvest your information as they see fit. The paid plans generally provide an opt-out. Generally. Be sure to carefully check the terms of service. And also decide if you even trust the company enough to honor what they say. Remember that these LLMs were all trained on publicly-available data without any concern for copyright or licensing. It’s the same old “make wads money of first, deal with the ramifications later” model that most of tech has run on for the last few decades ☹ There’s really no force that will hold these companies to any sort of privacy promise. They’re already richer than most governments and if AI continues to improve, they will only get more powerful, and no regulation will stop them. They can easily dance around privacy laws just by relocating their operations and/or cutting off specific segments of the population subject to GDPR etc.