>And people keep claiming the token providers are running inference at a profit.

Not everyone gets $1K of usage, and you don't know how fat the per-token margins are. It's like saying the local buffet place is losing money because you eat $100 worth of takeout for $30.

> Not everyone gets $1K of usage, and you don't know how fat the per-token margins are.

Well, we're going to find out sooner rather than later. Right now you don't know how thin (or negative) the margins are, either, after all.

All we know for certain is how much VC cash they got. Revenue, spend, profit, etc calculated according to GAAP are still a secret.

Yes and when we say things like that we are not talking about plans. Running inference at a profit means api token use is run profitably. It’s a huge unknown what’s happening at the plan level, we know there is subsidy happening but in aggregate impossible to know if it’s profitable or not.

In addition to usage distribution aspects others called out .

$1K is not actual cost, just API pricing being compared to subscription pricing. It is quite possible that API has a large operating margins, and say costs only $100 to deliver $1K worth of API credits.

The model developers across the board stand by that most/all models are profitable by EOL, and losses come from R&D/Training.