And "growth at all costs" makes sense if there's lock in and you can monetize those "now locked-in users" later - but that doesn't really seem true on the consumer side. It seems pretty trivial to switch out which model and provider on the consumer side.

Any "lock in" has then to be on the model or inference side, and that's still advancing in multiple areas from so many different sources I'm not sure I'm comfortable saying that will also be a "winner takes all" situation either.

My approach is generally "enjoy using it while it's cheap and subsidized, but understand that might not last forever". If it does remain cheap after the subsidies end, great, you can just keep using it. But if it doesn't and you've lost the ability to work without you'll be in for a world of hurt.