Writing
Things worth knowing about using AI models — what they cost, which one to reach for, and what the app is doing on your behalf when one of them fails.
- Pictures and video
Making pictures and video from a phone, without wasting money
The five settings that decide what you get and what it costs, with the real measured prices, and a drafting routine that keeps an afternoon of experiments off your balance.
- Choosing a model
Pick a model by the job, not by the brand
Brand loyalty in AI is expensive. Which differences between models are real, which are leaderboard noise, and when the model that thinks hardest is worth twelve times the price.
- The free model
What “free” actually means in an AI app
Running a model costs money every time, so a free tier is always paid for by somebody. Four ways that happens, which one ours is, and how to tell in any app.
- Pricing
What a model actually costs, and why we double it
Providers bill in fractions of a credit for work that has already happened. Here is the whole chain from their invoice to your balance, and why the multiplier is printed rather than buried.
- Reliability
What happens when a model fails, and who pays for it
Providers go down, rate-limit, time out and sometimes return nothing at all. What each of those looks like from inside the app, which ones touch your balance, and the one thing we will not do to hide them.