Why AI Coding Costs Explode 32x & Who Truly Makes Money from AI

We analyzed 646 Trillion words generated across over 1,000 AI models worldwide to answer a simple question: Where does the money in AI actually go? We discovered two big surprises: First, free open-source models handle nearly two-thirds of worldwide usage, but closed corporate giants pocket 60% of all revenues. Second, when developers use AI coding assistants on real projects (50+ questions), costs don't increase steadily—they explode by 32 times because the software re-reads the entire chat history on every single turn.

If you use AI coding tools or run a business with AI, you are overpaying by up to 32x unless you prune chat history. For everyone else, this proves open-source AI is doing the heavy lifting on the internet even while closed tech giants collect the cash.