Ads ruined social media. Now they’re coming to AI chatbots.

Chatbots might hallucinate and sprinkle too much flattery on their users — “That’s a fascinating question!” one recently told me — but at least the subscription model that underpins them is healthy for our wellbeing. Many Americans pay about $20 a month to use the premium versions of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini Pro or Anthropic’s Claude, and the result is that the products are designed to provide maximum utility.

Don’t expect this status quo to last. Subscription revenue has a limit, and Anthropic’s new $200-a-month “Max”…