For three years, we have suspended our disbelief.
We treated the blinking cursor of ChatGPT not as a product, but as an oracle.
It was a super intelligent friend, floating above the messy, capitalistic fray of the internet, dispensing haikus, code, and therapy without asking for anything in return.
It felt less like a tech utility and more like a public service, subsidized by the benevolent billionaires of Silicon Valley.
Over the last month, however, that illusion has been shattered.