The Free AI Ride Is Ending

Five weeks ago we flagged that Wall Street was coming for your AI tools. Last week the money blinked. The Nasdaq fell 4.6 percent over five straight sessions, after a report that OpenAI may push its IPO into next year, and investors finally started asking what two years of AI spending actually returns. That pressure does not stay on the trading floor. When the market forces cost discipline onto the hyperscalers, it rolls downhill, toward vendor price hikes, thinner free tiers, and a finance team auditing your AI line item. This week: the AI P&L you can build in ten minutes, a vendor-evaluation guide for your next renewal, and why Google AI Studio belongs on your shortlist before you renew anything.