Calvin Wankhede / Android Authority
I can't tell you how much I hate subscriptions and the trend towards everything as a service. Unfortunately, even the AI features on today's phones don't allow you to escape the monthly fees. But when I already pay for everything from YouTube Premium and big name streaming services to Google One and gaming services, there's no way I'm going to pay for an AI subscription.
In the smartphone realm, the AI subscription game is already in full swing, with Google offering Gemini Advanced for a monthly fee. Meanwhile, Samsung has confirmed that its Galaxy AI features will be free until the end of 2025, at which point it plans to introduce some sort of subscription. Even Apple can't seem to escape the AI subscription trend, with Bloomberg suggesting that Apple Intelligence could become a paid feature within three years. I'm not eligible.
Do you subscribe to AI services?
11 votes
yes i will
27%
No, but I plan to subscribe in the future
9%
No, I'm not sure whether to subscribe
0%
No, I don't plan on subscribing any more
64%
AI and subscriptions? A hell of a combo
With a few exceptions, I find many of the highly touted AI features on phones to be simply uninteresting and unimaginative. Ah, here comes another AI feature that falls into the categories of summarization, image generation, or generative editing. While I can certainly see how these features could be useful, I find most of these features just not useful or interesting enough to justify paying a subscription fee for them. Everyone's opinion may vary.
It's hard to justify paying $20/month for Gemini Advanced, or $10/month for the hypothetical Galaxy AI Plus service, when you're not even going to use the AI features much anyway. I can justify spending money on YouTube Premium or Prime Video subscriptions because I actually use those services for hours a week, but I can't stand paying $10/month for fancy chatbots or editing tools that I might not use even once a month. It all seems like a way to squeeze money out of customers and appease greedy investors who demand infinite growth.
It's hard to buy an AI subscription for a feature you only use a few times a month.
Perhaps the only saving grace for smartphone AI is that it seems unlikely that manufacturers will charge for on-device AI features. After all, cloud-related costs are often cited as a reason for AI subscriptions, but local AI features don't use the cloud. That said, I wouldn't be surprised if some unscrupulous brands were to charge for on-device AI features. Also, the Google Pixel 9 series offers 8K video recording as a cloud feature, rather than the local feature found on virtually every other flagship smartphone. Maybe I'm just a cynic, but who's to say that Google won't put 8K video or better low-light video behind an AI subscription or similar plan in the future?
That's not to say I don't think generative AI is useful. Features like call summary, audio magic eraser, and call screening are super cool and practical. But these killer apps seem to be few and far between. Combined with my aversion to subscriptions, I just can't bring myself to shell out monthly for Galaxy AI, Apple Intelligence, or Gemini Advanced. What about you?
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