The spark I had a moment recently where something did not quite compute. We are all racing to use AI to automate tasks, build workflows, save time, and get clarity. But none of these tools are really making money yet. Entire businesses are quietly rebuilding themselves on top of systems they do not own, and have no control over. So the question that landed for me was this: “What happens when AI decides it wants to start charging properly?” Not a gentle subscription increase. I mean Facebook-level tactics. Does it throw everyday users overboard and chase enterprise dollars instead? It is a fair question. Ignoring it is how systems become brittle. The deeper truth: this is not anxiety, it is foresight We have seen this pattern before. Platforms start by delighting users, then slowly shift toward extraction. The tone changes. The rules change. The trust erodes. If you have been around long enough, you know exactly what this feels like. AI has that same early tremor. Not a crisis. A signal. AI will get more expensive. That part is real. Not because anyone is evil, but because compute and energy are scarce, regulation is coming, investors want returns, safety requires more infrastructure, and everyone is using these models for everything. The free snack buffet never lasts forever. So what this means for people building the next economy Strangely, this is good news. When tools get expensive, value shifts away from the tool itself and toward the ability to design smart workflows, the skill of integrating systems, the creativity to solve problems with what is available, and the resilience to avoid lock-in. This is the work I am doing through The Remix and The Signal. Not teaching people how to use one tool, but helping them build adaptive capability so they are not dependent on any single provider. Capability is the moat. A parallel shift is already underway As pricing tightens, we will see smaller on-device models, stronger open-source ecosystems, local and shared compute clusters, people running fine-tuned tools themselves, and communities designing their own learning and innovation infrastructure. AI will not be owned by five companies forever. It will become part of the fabric of work, creativity, and collective capability. The lesson: do not outsource your power Tools come and go. Pricing models change. Platforms pivot. Your ability to design, adapt, and create does not. That is why The Signal matters. Why The Remix exists. Why I am building something that is grounded in place but designed to scale globally. We are not here to depend on AI. We are here to partner with it, on our terms. If this question stirred something in you, good. That is awareness, not fear. We are early. We are building the scaffolding of the next economy. And conversations about sovereignty, capability, and creative power sit right at the centre of it.