One of the things to think about when it comes to many kinds of "expensive" technology, is that from so many well-funded ventures, from the capitalists on down almost every decision-maker involved has not spent the majority of their life making every dollar count in some way or another.

Even more so when things are not just expensive by nature, but truly overpriced beyond that point.

>10000%

Once in a while you do get somebody who only spends a dollar and gets more out of it than a seasoned high-roller spending $10000. Most of the time the waste is borne by those who can afford to throw away $10000 more easily than an economizer can afford to lose one dollar, so nobody is crying about it.

With how ridiculously large the language models have gotten though, a 10000x improvement in actual intelligence does seem like it could be lurking unrecognized at a different point on the compass.