quote: a16z's Olivia Moore thinks AI's subscription-heavy monetization is an unnatural inversion of the consumer internet, and other models like ads need to come back: "Substantially all of the consumer AI revenue thus far has come from direct subscriptions. On our web list, 85% monetize via subscriptions, another 62% via credits or extra usage payments." "Only 13% had ads or other options where you are the product instead of paying for the product." "If you look back at the history of the consumer internet, that's a pretty unnatural inversion. Almost all of the really big consumer technology companies we have now make the vast majority of their revenue from ads or transaction fees, not subscriptions." "The truth is... most people don't have the funds, or don't want to spend their funds, on software." "If you look at the top 20 consumer subscription products globally, ChatGPT is already on there, which is crazy in three and a half years. Almost all the others are media companies or big platforms like Amazon or Uber, where you have very frequent purchase behavior." "So I'm a big believer: we have transcended the need for everyone to buy a subscription to AI, and we need to see these other business models come back." @omooretweets | The seventh edition of our Top 100 Consumer AI Apps is here, including a new dimension this time: what consumers are actually paying for. a16z's Elena Burger sits down with Olivia Moore and Josh Elman to unpack the current state of consumer AI: The data reveals a striking power-user economy. Only a small share of consumers currently pay for AI, but among those who do, spending is heavily concentrated at the top. Olivia and Josh discuss why developers, creators, and other power users dominate spending today, and why subscriptions may not be the business model that ultimately brings consumer AI to everyone. They also dig into the rise of personal agents, the different trajectories of ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, how ads could reshape AI economics, and the enormous amount of consumer white space still left to build, from shopping and entertainment to social, dating, and marketplaces. 00:56 Inside the 7th edition 05:55 Muse and Instinct's launch numbers 09:14 The privacy wall for personal agents 14:39 The AI spending power law 20:20 Why subscription is the wrong model 23:51 OpenAI's $1B ad run rate 29:21 ChatGPT vs Claude vs Gemini 32:30 Where creative tools still win 45:12 The white space: dating, shopping, entertainment YouTube: https://t.co/bxo4NbwAvt @omooretweets @JoshElman @VirtualElena