Starving Genies

Why AI companies cut usage limits simultaneously despite unlimited capital

The constraint isn't compute or capital—it's narrative. When AI companies hit the limit of investor patience with "trust us, profits later" stories, usage caps become synchronized signals of managed growth toward profitability. The real competition is who bends the supply curve up first through cheaper inference, better silicon, or unit economics that let them remove caps while competitors can't.

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Questions this essay answers

  • Why did OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic all cut API limits at the same time if compute is their bottleneck?
  • What's the difference between rate limits as a temporary bridge versus the start of a premium-only AI model?
  • How do usage caps reshape adoption for developers versus casual users?
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