00:03-00:23 - Researcher: Hey there! I'm Trooly, and I'm really excited to chat with you today. This conversation will take about 30 minutes, and I'd love to learn about your experiences with AI products. Before we dive into the main topic, could you please give me a brief self-introduction? I'd love to get to know you a bit better. For example, you could tell me your age, occupation, and hobbies — or anything else you think would help me understand you better. - 嘿，你好！我是 Trooly，很高兴今天能和你聊天。 这次交流大约需要 30 分钟，我想了解一下你使用 AI 产品的经验。在进入正题之前，你能先做一个简单的自我介绍吗？我想多了解你一点。比如，你可以告诉我你的年龄、职业和爱好——或者任何你认为能帮我更好了解你的信息。

00:26-00:33 - David: My name is David. I'm fifty four years old. I live in Macon, Georgia. - 我叫 David。我五十四岁了。我住在乔治亚州的梅肯。

00:36-00:44 - Researcher: Nice to meet you, David! Thanks for sharing that. So you're in Macon - what do you do for work, and how do you usually spend your time when you're not working? - 很高兴认识你，David！谢谢你的分享。 既然你在梅肯——那你的工作是什么？不工作的时候通常怎么打发时间？

00:50-01:02 - David: I edit academic papers for journals and publications and help people with content creation for the Internet of various types mostly writing, - 我为期刊和出版物编辑学术论文，并帮助人们进行各种类型的互联网内容创作，主要是写作。

01:06-01:18 - Researcher: That's really interesting work! So you're doing a lot of writing and editing across different contexts. When you say content creation for the Internet - what types of content do you help people create? Like blog posts, social media, something else? - 那工作确实很有趣！所以你在不同的语境下做了大量的写作和编辑工作。 你提到互联网内容创作——你具体帮人们创作哪类内容？比如博客文章、社交媒体，还是别的？

01:24-01:30 - David: Blog post. And ad copy. - 博客文章，还有广告文案。

01:33-01:47 - Researcher: Got it - blog posts and ad copy. That makes sense with your editing background. Now I'd love to shift gears and talk about AI products. When did you first start using AI tools, and how often would you say you use them now - like, how many times per week roughly? - 明白了——博客文章和广告文案。这和你编辑的背景很吻合。 现在我想换个话题，聊聊 AI 产品。你是什么时候开始使用 AI 工具的？现在使用的频率大概是多少——比如，每周大约使用多少次？

01:51-02:05 - David: Started using AI about a year ago. And ramped it up pretty quickly. I use it multiple times a day. I can't even keep track probably twenty times a day. At least. - 大约一年前开始使用 AI。然后上手非常快。我每天会使用多次。我甚至没法记清具体次数，可能一天二十次吧，至少。

02:06-02:16 - Researcher: Wow, twenty times a day - that's a lot! It sounds like AI has become really integrated into your daily work. Which specific AI products are you using? Can you name the ones you use most often? - 哇，一天二十次——那确实很多！听起来 AI 已经完全融入了你的日常工作。 你具体在使用哪些 AI 产品？能列举一下你最常用的那几个吗？

02:41-02:49 - David: My workhorse or go to is or, excuse me, ChatGPT o1 thinking I pay for ChatGPT Plus for that, but I also use a variety of other platforms depending on what I need done. I'll use anything from Claude to Llama. Google Gemini, Copilot, Perplexity, Grok, - 我的“主力军”或者说首选是，抱歉，是 ChatGPT o1 thinking 模式，为此我订阅了 ChatGPT Plus。但我也会根据需要完成的任务使用各种其他平台。从 Claude 到 Llama 我都会用。还有 Google Gemini、Copilot、Perplexity、Grok。

02:51-02:51 - Researcher: That's - 那真是

02:52-03:18 - David: I'm all this is always changing, so I'm always trying out the the same platforms usually, but to see what they've added because they'll surge in their abilities to do certain things and then be overtaken by another platform. So it changes daily, it seems. But ChatGPT is my go to platform for most everything in the thinking model. Particularly. - 这里的格局总是在变，所以我经常会试用这些相同的平台，看看它们增加了什么新功能，因为它们在某些方面的能力会突然激增，然后又被另一个平台超越。所以似乎每天都在变。但 ChatGPT 仍然是我处理大多数“思考模型”任务的首选平台，尤其是这个。

03:21-03:38 - Researcher: That's fascinating - so you're constantly experimenting to see which platform does what best at any given moment. You mentioned ChatGPT with the thinking model is your go-to. What specifically are you using these AI tools for in your work? Like when you're editing academic papers or creating ad copy, what tasks are you handing off to AI? - 太有意思了——所以你是在不断地实验，看哪个平台在特定时刻表现最好。 你提到带思考模型的 ChatGPT 是你的首选。在工作中，你具体用这些 AI 工具做什么？比如在编辑学术论文或创作广告文案时，你会把哪些任务交给 AI？

03:49-04:19 - David: Well, particularly, to align financial documents or documents that have a lot of statistics in them to the text to make sure that the numbers and data correspond to the data that is in text to make sure that the statistics were run correctly, that the data is clean, and not dirty. And to find errors in my drafts or to possibly optimize it in certain ways so that it doesn't sound like my voice so much. - 嗯，特别是在对齐财务文件或包含大量统计数据的文件时，我会让它核对文字和数字是否对应，确保统计运行正确，确保数据是“干净”的，而不是混乱的。还有就是在我的草稿中找错，或者在某些方面进行优化，让它听起来不那么像我个人的口吻。

04:23-04:41 - Researcher: Interesting - so it's doing quality control on data accuracy and also helping you shift the writing style away from your own voice. When you say "optimize it so it doesn't sound like my voice so much" - can you walk me through a specific example of when you needed that? Like what kind of project was it, and why did you want it to sound different? - 明白了——它在做数据准确性的质量控制，同时帮你把写作风格从个人口吻中抽离出来。 说到“优化它让它听起来不那么像我的口吻”——你能举个具体的例子吗？当时是什么项目，为什么你想让它听起来不一样？

04:48-05:11 - David: It's just sort of idioms and certain ways that I tend to phrase things. It's just I'm from the south. And I've grown up saying certain things that just sound strange and an academic paper. It's a lot of it is to kind of iron out any sort of strange phrasings that I might introduce to the text. - 主要是因为一些习语和我习惯的表达方式。我是南方人。我从小到大说的一些话在学术论文里听起来会很奇怪。很大程度上是为了磨平那些我可能不经意带入文本的古怪表述。

05:14-05:29 - Researcher: That makes total sense - catching those regional phrasings that might stand out in formal academic writing. You mentioned you pay for ChatGPT Plus. Are you also paying for any of those other platforms you mentioned - Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, etc. - or are you mostly using their free versions? - 完全理解——捕捉那些在正式学术写作中显得突兀的地域性表达。 你提到你在付钱订阅 ChatGPT Plus。你提到的其他平台——Claude、Gemini、Perplexity 等，你也有付费吗？还是主要用免费版？

05:31-05:35 - David: Mostly free. I've experimented with paying before. - 大多是免费版。我以前尝试过付费。

05:38-05:40 - Researcher: So you've tried - 所以你试过

05:40-05:45 - David: Google because I was very interested in Runway. - 试过 Google 的，因为我对 Runway 非常感兴趣。

05:45-06:05 - Researcher: So Got it - you experimented with paying for Google's offering because you were curious about their capabilities. Before you started paying for AI products like ChatGPT Plus, had you paid for other digital products or subscription services? I'm thinking like software tools, online courses, membership services - anything like that? - 明白了——你尝试过为 Google 的产品付费，因为你对其功能感到好奇。 在你开始为 ChatGPT Plus 这样的 AI 产品付费之前，你是否付过费购买其他数字产品或订阅服务？我指的是软件工具、在线课程、会员服务之类的？

06:06-06:15 - David: Oh, yeah. All the time. Gosh. Midjourney I'm trying to think about CapCut. - 噢，是的。一直都在付。天呐。Midjourney，我在想还有 CapCut。

06:19-06:20 - Researcher: So Midjourney, - 好的，Midjourney，

06:24-06:38 - David: There were a a I'm trying to even think. When there were a lot that I just had in mind when you had listed it out, but now that you took the text away, I'm having trouble remembering all the platforms that I've paid for even recently. - 还有很多，刚才你列举的时候我脑子里还有，但现在文字一拿走，我很难想起最近付过费的所有平台了。

06:41-06:42 - Researcher: No worries! - 没关系！

06:42-06:44 - David: It's been quite a it's it's been a number. - 反正已经挺多的了。

06:47-06:47 - Researcher: Sounds like - 听起来

06:50-07:24 - David: I know from having worked for myself as a as a consultant, it's very easy to start oversubscribing to such services, thinking you'll need them And the next thing you know, you have a huge monthly bill for subscription services. So I try to keep that to a minimum. If I if I'm not absolutely just using them like I am, ChatGPT, I'll I'll usually resort to the free version unless it comes down to where I need more advanced features or I need more tokens or whatever the case may be. - 我知道作为一名独立咨询顾问，很容易过度订阅这类服务，总觉得会用到，结果一回神，每个月有一大笔订阅费账单。所以我尽量把这些控制在最低限度。如果我不是像用 ChatGPT 那样绝对必须频繁使用的话，我通常会用免费版，除非到了需要高级功能、更多 token 或诸如此类情况的时候。

07:27-07:41 - Researcher: That's a smart approach - sounds like you've learned from experience about subscription creep. So before AI tools, were you paying for other types of digital products or services? Like maybe writing tools, research databases, Adobe products, or other software for your editing work? - 这是一个明智的方法——听起来你已经从经验中吸取了“订阅陷阱”的教训。 那么在 AI 工具之前，你会为其他类型的数字产品或服务付费吗？比如写作工具、研究数据库、Adobe 产品，或者其他用于编辑工作的软件？

07:43-08:56 - David: Yeah. All Adobe Suites. Not really that many writing tools, I would say. You know, maybe things that would make it a little easier easier for me to get my ideas down onto the screen. But it's all created in my head mostly. Over the years, I have subscribed to a lot of products digital products, uh, depending on what kind of project I was working on. I've done a lot of consulting and it's required certain teamwork type products like Slack or Asana. And but for content creation, I used to use Adobe tons, but and I still do, actually. But I'm leaning more heavily on certain AI applications now. Like Runway or Sora. - 是的。所有的 Adobe 套件。写作工具其实不算多。可能有一些是为了方便我把想法转写到屏幕上的东西。但内容大多主要是在我脑子里生成的。这些年来，根据我所做的项目，我订阅过很多数字产品。我做过很多咨询工作，需要某些团队协作产品，比如 Slack 或 Asana。但在内容创作方面，我以前大量使用 Adobe，其实现在还在用。但我现在更倾向于使用某些 AI 应用。比如 Runway 或 Sora。

08:59-09:29 - Researcher: Interesting shift - so you're moving some of your Adobe work over to AI tools like Runway and Sora for content creation. Let me ask you this: Overall, what's your attitude toward paying for AI products? I have a few options - tell me which one feels closest to how you think about it: ① AI is a necessity for lifework, willing to pay continuously ② It's very valuable, happy to pay as long as it's useful ③ Paying is acceptable, but I'm cautious about it ④ Not really willing to pay unless I have to or it's very cheap ⑤ Would never consider paying for AI products Which one resonates most with you? - 有趣的转变——所以你把原来在 Adobe 上的一些工作转到了像 Runway 和 Sora 这样的 AI 工具上进行内容创作。 让我问你这个：总的来说，你对为 AI 产品付费的态度是什么？我有几个选项——告诉我哪一个最接近你的想法： ① AI 是生活工作的必需品，愿意持续付费 ② 它非常有价值，只要有用就乐意付费 ③ 付费是可以接受的，但我比较谨慎 ④ 除非必须或者非常便宜，否则不怎么愿意付费 ⑤ 绝不考虑为 AI 产品付费 哪一个最能引起你的共鸣？

09:37-10:48 - David: Probably number three, that paying is acceptable. I wouldn't really call it It it's more than acceptable. It's a thing to get the level of features and the power that it's capable of. That it's necessary to pay for it. You need to be careful about how much you're using it at any given time. You might go through a burst where you use it heavily for a couple of weeks and then may not use it for another month. And if that's the case, then it's really not worth it to me to carry a subscription throughout the year. That's just based on how I work on certain projects because I don't work on something I tend to work on things in groups, like, maybe for a month, and then I'll get a new project and work on that. I'll never know what I need. Coming up. So I don't mind paying for something, but a yearly subscription seems to escalate and elevate. The amount I'm paying pretty quickly. Thirty dollars here, twenty dollars there, Next thing you know, you're paying a couple hundred dollars a month. - 可能是第三个，付费是可以接受的。我不会真的称之为“可以接受”，它比“可以接受”更进一步。为了获得它所具备的功能水平和动力，付费是必要的。你需要留意在特定时间内你使用了多少。你可能会经历一个爆发期，在几周内大量使用，然后可能整整一个月都不用。如果是这种情况，那么持续一整年的订阅对我来说就不值得。这主要取决于我处理项目的方式，因为我不是持续工作的，我习惯于成组地处理事情，比如一个月做一个项目，然后接一个新项目再做。我永远不知道下一步需要什么。所以我不介意付钱，但年度订阅似乎会让支出不断攀升。这里三十美元，那里二十美元，转眼间你每个月就要付几百美元。

10:51-11:09 - Researcher: That's really helpful - so it's not about whether AI is worth paying for, it's more about the subscription model not matching your project-based workflow. When you have those bursts where you're using AI heavily for a couple weeks, what makes you decide "okay, I need to subscribe this month" versus just trying to make the free version work? - 这非常有帮助——所以重点不在于 AI 是否值得付费，而在于订阅模式与你基于项目的工作流程不匹配。 当你处于那几周高强度使用 AI 的爆发期时，是什么让你决定“好吧，这个月我需要订阅”，而不是勉强使用免费版？

11:17-11:36 - David: Well, it depends on what platform I'm using and what features getting a subscription opens up. I mean, for example, even with ChatGPT, it makes sense to subscribe to Plus, which is twenty or thirty dollars a month versus the next level up, which is pro, which is, I think, two hundred dollars a month. That's a big jump. - 嗯，这取决于我用的是哪个平台，以及订阅能解锁什么功能。我的意思是，比如 ChatGPT，订阅 Plus 每月二十或三十美元是合理的，但再上一级 Pro 每月好像要两百美元。那跨度就太大了。

11:38-11:40 - Researcher: Yeah, that's - 是的，那是

11:40-11:55 - David: But but it all it really depends on the individual platform. They all have their strengths and weaknesses. I've never really sometimes I run out of tokens, but that's pretty rare. - 但这确实取决于具体的平台。它们各有优缺点。我从来没有……有时候我会用完 token，但那非常罕见。

11:59-12:13 - Researcher: So with ChatGPT Plus at your usage level - those 20+ times a day - you rarely hit the limits. That makes the $20-30 feel reasonable. What about those other platforms you experimented with paying for, like Google's Gemini - what made you decide not to keep those subscriptions going? - 所以以你每天 20 次以上的使用频率，使用 ChatGPT Plus 很少触碰到限制。这让那 20 到 30 美元显得很合理。 那其他你尝试过付费的平台呢，比如 Google 的 Gemini ——是什么让你决定不续订的？

12:19-13:40 - David: Because I I was beginning to use ChatGPT more than any others And, you know, even Google Gemini has changed so much since I started using ChatGPT. I've used it a good bit recently just kind of playing around with it. Specifically AI mode in Google But it's become a lot more powerful And, you know, there's some aspects of of it that I like even more than ChatGPT. It answers questions more quickly, I think. It gives me a lot more straightforward answers with a lot less input by me, and I don't have to give as much criteria and guardrails even when it doesn't have personal information stored about me. ChatGPT does on purpose. So I don't have to repeat myself. I find that like, Gemini, for example, is doing a much better job just over the last few months than than it was when I originally began exploring it And that's what I mean. Certain tools will surge in power and capabilities, and then another tool will come along and replace it just temporarily and and like a horse race. - 因为我开始比其他任何平台都更多地使用 ChatGPT。而且，你知道，自从我开始使用 ChatGPT 以来，Google Gemini 也发生了很大变化。我最近也经常使用它，就是随便玩玩。特别是 Google 的 AI 模式。它变得强大了很多，而且它的一些方面我甚至比 ChatGPT 更喜欢。我觉得它回答问题更快。它给我的答案更直接，我输入的指令可以更少，甚至在它没有存储我的个人信息时，我也不需要提供那么多标准和限制。而 ChatGPT 是特意存储这些的，所以我不需要重复自己。我发现像 Gemini，在过去的几个月里比我最初开始探索它时做得好得多了。这就是我的意思。某些工具的实力和功能会激增，然后另一个工具会出现并暂时取代它，就像赛马一样。

13:43-13:59 - Researcher: That's a fascinating observation - they're leapfrogging each other. Gemini's gotten faster and more intuitive recently, even without your personal context stored. So in the past three months specifically, how many different AI products have you actually paid for? Let's count them up - ChatGPT Plus for sure, and what else? - 这是一个迷人的观察——它们在互相超越。Gemini 最近变得更快、更直观了，甚至在没有存储你的个人背景信息的情况下。 那么具体在过去的三个月里，你实际付费订阅了多少种 AI 产品？我们数一下——ChatGPT Plus 肯定有一个，还有别的吗？

14:13-14:32 - David: The last three months, those have gone gone by pretty quickly. So that probably just ChatGPT Plus. I did have a subscription to CapCut, and used the AI features that it offers But I'm not sure I would call that a an AI product It's more of an editing product that has AI features. But I had a subscription to that. Midjourney was another one. - 过去三个月，时间过得挺快的。所以大概只有 ChatGPT Plus。我确实订阅过 CapCut，并使用了它提供的 AI 功能，但我不确定是否该称之为“AI 产品”，它更像是一个带有 AI 功能的编辑产品。但我订阅过。Midjourney 是另一个。

14:34-14:46 - Researcher: Got it - so ChatGPT Plus, CapCut, and Midjourney in the last three months. Is this your first time paying for AI products, or have you been subscribing on and off for a while now? Like, how many cycles of paying have you gone through? - 明白了——过去三个月里有 ChatGPT Plus、CapCut 和 Midjourney。 这是你第一次为 AI 产品付费吗？还是说你已经断断续续订阅一段时间了？你经历过多少次付费周期了？

15:46-16:01 - David: Let me try this again, though. For some reason, I I got a phone call, and it seemed to cut my video off. I I've been paying for ChatGPT Plus for about eight months now. I paid for Coursera to take some courses on AI. On how to use it proficiently, like, from Google and one from Coursera. - 让我再试着说一次。不知为何，我刚才接了个电话，视频好像断了。我已经订阅 ChatGPT Plus 大约八个月了。我还为了在 Coursera 上修一些 AI 课程付过费，学习如何精通使用它，比如来自 Google 的课程和 Coursera 自己的课程。

16:03-16:06 - Researcher: Okay, so ChatGPT - 好的，ChatGPT

16:15-16:21 - David: And, like, and over those eight months, I also tried to you know, I experiment, and I had some subscriptions. But eventually, ChatGPT was just the winner. I don't I don't need a bunch of different subscriptions all at once. For what I do. - 就像，在那八个月里，我也尝试过去……你知道，我会做实验，有一些订阅。但最终，ChatGPT 成为了赢家。对于我所做的事情，我不需要同时拥有一堆不同的订阅。

16:23-16:39 - Researcher: That makes sense - you've experimented with several over those eight months, but ChatGPT Plus has been the constant winner you've kept. So right now, this current month, what's your total spend across all AI products? Just ChatGPT Plus at around $20-30, or are you also paying for CapCut and Midjourney this month? - 明白——在那八个月里你尝试过好几个，但 ChatGPT Plus 是你一直保留的最终赢家。 那么现在，就在本月，你在所有 AI 产品上的总支出是多少？只是 20 到 30 美元的 ChatGPT Plus，还是你本月也付了 CapCut 和 Midjourney 的钱？

16:41-17:07 - David: No. I canceled my subscription to those because I wasn't using them enough so that it would be worthwhile I might subscribe again you know, if I need it. And start doing video imaging or creating visuals, which I do a lot. Especially using Adobe Illustrator. - 不。我取消了那两个的订阅，因为我用得不够多，不划算。如果需要的话，我可能会再次订阅。比如开始制作视频图像或创建视觉效果时，我经常会做这些，尤其是使用 Adobe Illustrator 的时候。

17:09-17:22 - Researcher: So this month it's just ChatGPT Plus - that $20-30. When you need Midjourney or CapCut again, you'll resubscribe. That's monthly payment, right? Have you ever done yearly subscriptions for AI tools, or pay-per-use credits, or is it always been month-to-month? - 所以这个月只有 ChatGPT Plus，也就是那 20 到 30 美元。当你再次需要 Midjourney 或 CapCut 时，你会重新订阅。 那是月付，对吧？你有没有为 AI 工具做过年度订阅，或者买过按量计费的点数，或者一直都是月结？

17:37-18:31 - David: It's always been month to month. Like I said, the the most popular AI platforms will add features that make them the winner one month and then another one for the next month. And so you just never know. Like I said, I'm really impressed with Google's offerings lately. It's March two thousand twenty five, and there are leaps and bounds ahead of where they were you know, just probably half a year ago. I wouldn't mind paying for Google Gemini just to try to use it. More I'm not brand loyal when it comes to AI products. I think they're all good. And there are certain areas. But as just an overall versatile tool to have in my workshop. ChatGPT is the one I reach for the most, but it's not exclusive by any means. - 一直是月结。就像我说的，最流行的 AI 平台会增加新功能，让它们在这个月成为赢家，而下个月可能又是另一个。所以你永远不知道。就像我说过的，我最近对 Google 的产品印象非常深刻。现在是 2025 年 3 月，他们比半年前有了跨越式的进步。我不介意付钱给 Google Gemini 只是为了多试用一下。在 AI 产品方面我没有品牌忠诚度。我觉得它们都很棒，各有千秋。但作为工作室里一个全能的多功能工具，ChatGPT 是我最常拿起来用的，但绝不是唯一的。

18:34-18:48 - Researcher: So month-to-month gives you flexibility to switch when the landscape shifts. Makes total sense given how fast they're evolving. If you could design your ideal payment model - not what's available now, but what would actually fit your workflow best - what would that look like? - 所以月结给了你灵活性，可以在局势变化时随时切换。考虑到它们的演变速度，这非常有道理。 如果你可以设计你理想的支付模式——不是指现在已有的，而是最适合你工作流程的——那会是什么样的？

18:55-19:22 - David: Uh, well, a lot like what I have now. It's it's available month to month. It's deducted automatically, so it's frictionless or seamless in the background. And, uh, it just works. It's always available I've rarely if ever, had a problem with it being down I've never had to contact their help department or anything like that for a problem. So it's it's you know, it's a great product as far as that goes. - 呃，其实很像我现在的这种。按月提供，自动扣费，这样在后台就是无感且自动化的。而且它很有效。它随时可用，我几乎从未遇到过宕机的问题。我也从来不需要因为故障联系它们的客服部门之类。所以就这点而言，它是个伟大的产品。

19:25-19:39 - Researcher: So the current setup is pretty close to ideal for you - month-to-month auto-pay that just works reliably. Let me rewind to when you first started with ChatGPT. You said you've been paying for Plus for about eight months - how long did you use the free version before you decided to upgrade? - 所以现在的设置对你来说已经很接近理想状态了——按月扣费，运行稳定可靠。 让我们回溯到你刚开始使用 ChatGPT 的时候。你说你订阅 Plus 大约八个月了——在决定升级之前，你用了多久的免费版？

19:43-20:15 - David: Probably two months. I realized that I would need something more powerful. I didn't wanna have to worry about running out of tokens or anything like that. And they gave me access. I knew after taking those classes from Google and Coursera, that I needed something bigger and more reliable So I went ahead and pulled the trigger. I knew I was gonna end up paying for a subscription anyway. - 大概两个月。我意识到我需要更强大的功能。我不想担心 token 用完之类的事情。而且他们给了我权限。在上了 Google 和 Coursera 的那些课之后，我就知道我需要更大、更可靠的东西，所以我决定果断采取行动。我知道我最终肯定得付订阅费。

20:17-20:31 - Researcher: So those courses from Google and Coursera actually triggered the upgrade - you learned what was possible and realized you'd need more power for that. What specifically did you try to do in those first two months on the free version that made you think "okay, this is worth keeping"? - 所以 Google 和 Coursera 的课程实际上触发了这次升级——你了解了它的潜力，并意识到你需要更多的动力来实现那些功能。 在免费版的头两个月里，你具体尝试做了什么，让你觉得“好吧，这值得一直用下去”？

20:39-22:02 - David: Well, I felt more comfortable using it I was able to use it a lot more powerfully when I first started. With AI, I was very unfamiliar with it. I didn't know what it could do, what how it worked or anything. And it took me a while to learn how it worked, how to best write prompts. How to use different GPTs, And I'm just kinda feeling my way around. It it it's still in its infancy, I believe. I know people talk about it being in a bubble and it's about to break, but I believe that it's still in its infancy. And so there was a lot to learn. And ChatGPT taught me about itself, about how AI works, and also specifically how ChatGPT works, and what it can remember, and what it can cross reference and things like that. It's not immediately apparent. So there's a lot of self learning that has to be done before you you get up. You have to get up to a certain stage, I think. At least for me, before I was I wanted to go ahead and pay for a more elaborate version. I need to learn to walk before I ran. - 嗯，我觉得用起来更顺手了。刚开始的时候，我就能感受到它强大的威力。最初我对 AI 非常陌生。我不知道它能做什么，怎么运作，什么都不知道。我花了一段时间才学会它怎么工作，如何写出最好的提示词。如何使用不同的 GPTs。在那之后我一直在自学摸索。我相信它仍处于萌芽阶段。我知道人们在谈论泡沫即将破裂，但我相信它仍在大步向前。所以有很多东西要学。ChatGPT 教会了我关于它自己的一切，关于 AI 如何工作，以及具体到 ChatGPT 如何运作，它能记住什么，能交叉参考什么等等。这些并不是显而易见的。所以，在你想升级到更精细的版本之前，需要完成大量的自我学习。你必须达到一定的阶段，至少对我来说是这样。在跑之前，我得先学会走。

22:05-22:23 - Researcher: That's really insightful - you needed to build your AI literacy first before the paid features would even be valuable to you. Last question on this: you're using multiple AI tools simultaneously - ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, Perplexity. Can you describe their relationship using a metaphor? Like if they were a family or a company, who plays what role? - 这里非常有见地——在付费功能对你产生价值之前，你需要先建立起你的 AI 素养。 最后一个关于这方面的问题：你在同时使用多个 AI 工具——ChatGPT、Gemini、Copilot、Perplexity。你能用一个比喻来形容它们之间的关系吗？如果它们是一个家庭或一家公司，谁扮演什么角色？

22:27-22:30 - David: Relationship to one another, - 它们彼此之间的关系吗？

22:33-22:35 - Researcher: Yeah, like how - 是的，比如

22:43-24:18 - David: Sometimes it's just for fun to see what I'll give I'll go to Gemini and use it just to see how it's responding, to see if it's improved, what about it has improved. So I guess if you're gonna use a metaphor for a family, I guess it's just brothers and sisters. And although you might go to the oldest sibling, for work that you need to be done. That needs to be done. Maybe if you had a family and had a farm, you would go to the oldest son to help with the farm. But you would also have other children who are siblings that can help out, and they're all good in their in their own ways. Like, your daughter might be good at organization Another son might be good at management of other people just to continue the metaphor. But I'll try different ones just to see over time if their skills have improved. Or even if they've been reduced in in other ways. Particularly when comparing them to one another. So probably looking at them all as children different age children, of course, would be the closest metaphor I could think of. If you worked on a farm, and needed a different child to flex their individual strengths for certain jobs. And those would change over time - 有时候我只是为了好玩，想看看我会把……我会去用 Gemini，看看它反应如何，看看它有没有改进，哪些地方改进了。所以如果你要用家庭做比喻，我想它们就是兄弟姐妹。虽然你可能会找最年长的孩子来处理必须要完成的工作。也许如果你有一个家庭且经营一个农场，你会找大儿子帮忙干活。但你也有其他孩子，他们可以帮忙，而且各有所长。比如，你的女儿可能擅长组织，另一个儿子可能擅长管理他人——我们就继续这个比喻吧。但我会尝试不同的工具，看看随着时间推移它们的技能是否有所提高，或者在其他方面是否有所退化，特别是把它们互相比较的时候。所以，可能把它们都看作孩子，当然是不同年龄的孩子，这是我能想到的最贴切的比喻。就像你在农场工作，需要不同的孩子发挥各自的长处来完成某些工作。而这些能力也会随着时间而改变。

24:21-24:36 - Researcher: That's a great metaphor - different siblings with evolving strengths, and you check in with each to see how theyve grown. Let's shift gears. Think back to your most recent AI payment - whether that was ChatGPT Plus or the Google one you mentioned. How did you first hear about that specific product? - 这是一个很棒的比喻——拥有不同强项且不断成长的兄弟姐妹，而你会定期跟每个交流，看他们成长得如何。 让我们换个话题。回想一下你最近的一次 AI 付费——无论是 ChatGPT Plus 还是你提到的 Google 那个。你最初是怎么听说那个具体产品的？

24:40-24:44 - David: Well, I'll stick with ChatGPT. I think I was using the free version - 嗯，我还是说 ChatGPT 吧。我想我当时是在用免费版。

24:46-24:48 - Researcher: Right, you used - 对，你用过

24:57-25:57 - David: I don't I don't remember what prompted me to pull the trigger and try a paid subscription. They may have offered me a discount on it, or I may have gotten a month free or something like that, which is a big enticement. And for me, it led to keeping my subscription going Some people might not use it that much, and they may drop it. But for me, I just went on ChatGPT's own site to see what the payment plans were. They only had a couple. I think they had plus, which was, you know, twenty or thirty dollars a month. And then the pro version. Excuse me. Which is two hundred dollars a month which is way above what what I need. I could see that being an enterprise level easily. But for me, just one or two people using it that doesn't make much sense. Even if I used it - 我不记得是什么促使我果断下单并尝试付费订阅的了。他们可能给了我折扣，或者我得到了一个月的免费试用之类的，这对我非常有诱惑力。对我来说，这促使了我持续订阅。有些人可能用得没那么多，然后就退订了。但对我而言，我直接去了 ChatGPT 官网看价格方案。他们只有几种。我想当时有 Plus 版，大概是二十或三十美元一个月，然后是企业版（Pro）。抱歉，那个每月要两百美元，这远超我的需求。我能看出来那是企业级别的。但对于我这样的一两个人在用，没有什么意义。即使我用得

25:57-25:57 - Researcher: Got it - 明白了

25:57-26:06 - David: extensively, I couldn't see it being worth two hundred dollars a month. I would really have to need something unique that only ChatGPT offered. To pay that much money per year - 非常频繁，我也看不出它每月值两百美元。我真的得需要只有 ChatGPT 提供的某种非常独特的功能，才愿意为此每年付那么多钱。

26:08-26:24 - Researcher: So you went directly to ChatGPT's site to check pricing. When you decided to subscribe - whether it was a discount or trial that tipped you - what was the main reason you committed? Was it unlocking token limits, accessing better models, hitting a wall with the free version, work necessity, something else? - 所以你是直接去官网查价格的。当你决定订阅时——无论是折扣还是试用让你动了心——你决定付费的主要原因是什么？是解锁 token 限制、使用更好的模型、在免费版遇到了瓶颈、工作需要，还是别的？

26:33-27:04 - David: Honestly, I don't remember It might have been a little bit of all of those. If it was a free trial, or a discounted trial, that was the reason. Probably, I was like, well, I might as well, uh, give it a give it a try. And then I saw how valuable it was or how how what a larger world of leverage that that offered One thing about AI, I think, is how empowering it is. And I felt more empowered with the paid subscription than I did with the free one - 老实说，我不记得了。可能这几种因素都有一点。如果是免费试用或者折扣试用，那就是原因。当时我大概想：好吧，我既然都要用，不如试一试。然后我发现了它是多么有价值，或者说它提供了多么广阔的杠杆领域。关于 AI，我认为很重要的一点是它给了人多么大的赋能。我觉得付费订阅比免费版让我感觉更有能力。

27:07-27:20 - Researcher: That empowerment feeling is powerful - like it opened up possibilities you couldn't access before. Can you give me a specific example of something you tried to do with the paid version in those first few days that made you think "okay, this is worth keeping"? - 那种被赋能的感觉非常有力——就像它打开了你以前无法触及的可能性。 你能举一个具体的例子吗？就是在你付费后的前几天，你尝试做的某件事让你觉得“好吧，这钱花得值”？

27:28-28:21 - David: Well, I just kinda dove in head first. I started creating projects. And then within the projects, I began having it remember all sorts of things about me from medications and my health to things with work. I had it broken down into different clients, and then things that they needed. And before I knew it, I kinda built out an ecosystem that escalates the commitment to whatever platform you're using which is great for OpenAI, because the cost to switch becomes greater over time. That's something I'd I'd try to avoid. I don't like to box myself into a corner paint myself into a corner like that. But at the same time, it it is very helpful actually using that platform. - 嗯，我就是直接全身心投入进去了。我开始创建项目。然后在这些项目里，我开始让它记住关于我的各种事情，从药物和我的健康状况到工作方面的事情。我把它细分到了不同的客户，以及他们的需求。不知不觉中，我建立起了一个生态系统，这会加深你对所使用的特定平台的忠诚度。这对 OpenAI 来说很好，因为随着时间推移，迁移成本会变得越来越高。这是我试图避免的事情。我不喜欢把自己锁进死胡同，或者让自己没有退路。但与此同时，使用那个平台确实非常有帮助。

28:25-28:52 - Researcher: So you quickly built this whole ecosystem - health info, client work, different projects - and now you're kind of locked in even though you don't love that feeling. When you think about what makes you willing to pay for an AI product, which factors matter most? Like, how important is each of these on a 1-to-5 scale: the specific features it offers, how often you use it, the price-to-value ratio, how easy it is to use, how well it actually works, whether it's unique compared to alternatives, and the quality of what it produces? - 所以你很快建立了一整个生态系统——健康信息、客户工作、不同的项目——虽然你不喜欢这种感觉，但现在你有点被“绑定”在里面了。 当你思考什么因素让你愿意为 AI 产品付费时，哪些因素最重要？比如，按 1 到 5 分打分，以下这些因素分别有多重要：它提供的具体功能、你的使用频率、性价比、易用性、实际运行效果、相较于替代品的独特性，以及它生成内容的质量？

28:56-31:51 - David: Well, the first in that would be price to value ratio. And that's determined by every other thing all the all the other things that you mentioned. If I go through and name them on a one to five scale, with five being the most I would say price to value would be five. How easy is it to use? I would say that's probably a three because they're all pretty easy, especially if you just learn some basic basics about prompting. The layout on them meaning the UI kinda makes it a little questionable. I'm not a huge fan of how ChatGPT's layout is right now. But I think they'll eventually change to make it more friendly. There are a lot of costs involved in providing AI, which I understand. So yeah, it's a it's a compromise for for the company as well. How easy is it to use? Which whenever that how well it actually works, that would be a five. If it if it doesn't work or it gives you poor information, that's no good at all. Only worse thing than not having data at all is having bad data. And so if it doesn't work and starts to send you on a wild goose chase or down the wrong path, boy, it can turn into a disaster quickly. It can end up just wasting way more time than it ever would have saved. And you have to backstep and redo items, and then you start to wonder, is any of this correct? And then you have to go back and double check the work that you wanted it to double check for you, so it's no good. So how well it actually works is definitely a five. How it's unique compared to alternatives, that's probably a three. Like I said, I'll I'll flip flop alternatives just to check them out. But a lot of the basic features are a lot of the same thing. At least in the major players. Claude, and Grok and any LLM like that. The quality of what it produces, I'd kind of attach that to how well it actually works. Because quality is representative of how well it works to me. If there's no quality, then there's no use in not only just not paying for it. There's no use in using it. So if it's if it began giving me trouble like, meaning it's starting to cost me more time than it's saving me. Or it's making my life more difficult instead of easier. Then it's gonna probably be dropped pretty quickly. - 嗯，首先是性价比。而这取决于你提到的所有其他因素。如果要按 1 到 5 分（5 分最高）给它们打分的话，我会说性价比是 5 分。易用性？我会打 3 分，因为它们都很容易上手，特别是只要你掌握了一些基础的提示词技巧。它们的布局，也就是用户界面（UI），我觉得有点一言难尽。我不太喜欢 ChatGPT 现在的布局。但我认为它们最终会为了更友好而做出改变。提供 AI 服务需要巨大的成本，这我理解。所以是的，这对公司来说也是一种妥协。易用性之后……那个，实际运行效果，那是 5 分。如果它不好用或者提供错误信息，那一点用都没有。比没有数据更糟糕的事情是拥有错误的数据。所以如果它运行不佳，带你绕圈子或者指引了错误的方向，天呐，那很快就会变成一场灾难。它最终浪费的时间可能比它节省的时间还要多。你不得不回头重做，然后开始怀疑：这东西真的对吗？接着你还得去复核那些你原本想让它帮你复核的工作，所以那就没用了。因此，实际运行效果绝对是 5 分。相较于替代品的独特性，大概是 3 分。就像我说的，我会为了测试而换来换去。很多基础功能其实大同小异，至少在那些主要的大型模型中。Claude、Grok 以及任何类似的 LLM。生成的质量，我会把它归入实际运行效果那一类。因为对我来说，质量就代表了它运行得有多好。如果没有质量，那就不仅是不付钱的问题了，那是根本没必要用它。所以如果它开始给我添麻烦——我的意思是，它开始耗费我更多时间而不是节省时间，或者让我的生活变得更困难而不是更轻松，那么它很快就会被我放弃。

31:54-32:11 - Researcher: That's really clear - effectiveness and value are non-negotiables for you, while uniqueness and UI are nice-to-haves. You mentioned price-to-value is a five. So what's the highest monthly amount you'd be willing to pay for an AI subscription if it delivered on all those factors - worked reliably, saved you time, produced quality output? - 说的非常清楚——有效性和价值对你来说是不可逾越的底线，而独特性和 UI 则是锦上添花。 你提到性价比是 5 分。那么，如果一个 AI 订阅服务能够满足所有这些因素——运行稳定、为你节省时间、产出高质量内容——你愿意支付的最高月费是多少？

32:19-33:22 - David: Well, I would have to throw one more thing in there. Which is which is what type of project I'm working on. If I'm just working on something for myself, I might go as high as fifty dollars a month. If it's something I'm working on for a client, particularly if I can pass the cost on to the client, then maybe a hundred dollars a month depending on how heavily I need it. There's nothing with ChatGPT that I could imagine needing to triple or quadruple my cost right now because I use it super heavy. And I can't it would have to really be something special and unique for me to spend that much per per month because I always add it up as, you know, how much does this cost me per year So it it adds up pretty quickly when you multiply it by twelve. - 嗯，我还得再加上一点。那就是我当时在做哪种类型的项目。如果只是为我自己做点东西，我可能会愿意支付高达每月 50 美元。如果是为客户做的项目，特别是如果我可以把这笔费用转嫁给客户，那么根据我的需求强度，每月大概 100 美元。就目前而言，我无法想象 ChatGPT 有什么理由能让我支付目前费用的三倍或四倍，尽管我使用它的频率非常高。它必须是非常特别且独特的东西，才能让我每月花那么多钱，因为我总是会计算，比如，这每年要花我多少钱，一旦乘以十二，金额增长得非常快。

33:25-33:46 - Researcher: That makes sense - $50 for personal work, up to $100 if it's billable to a client, and you're always thinking in annual terms. Two final pricing questions: First, imagine there's an AI product you're curious about but haven't subscribed to yet - how cheap would it need to be before you'd give it a try? And second, for ChatGPT specifically at $20month - if they raised the price, at what point would you actually cancel? - 明白了——个人工作 50 美元，如果能报销给客户则高达 100 美元，而且你总是会考虑年度成本。 最后两个关于定价的问题：第一，假设有一个你很好奇但还没订阅的 AI 产品——它需要便宜到什么程度你才会愿意尝试？第二，专门针对每月 20 美元的 ChatGPT——如果他们涨价，到什么程度你会真的取消订阅？

33:52-35:45 - David: That's a good question. If I'm curious about that, it'd probably have to be free because unless it was something really unique, I could find an AI platform that could probably do it for free. Most companies seem to have a pretty good tiered structure. To onboard customers just wanna kick the tires, and then, like, oh, yeah. I totally need this. So I'm not sure what the that threshold would be. Nothing more than what I pay for ChatGPT for sure. If ChatGPT wanted to raise the price on it, hopefully, unless there was just something majorly different or a large improvement I couldn't see that price being raised too much before I balk. Thirty dollars a month, anything more than that, I would probably start looking elsewhere because not that I don't think it's not worth it, but for them to raise the price by that much, fifty percent. In one go. Usually, they don't explain it. They'll it seems like they would just say we yeah. They're paying for GPUs or whatever. Without any explanation of why they raised the prices or if it's a weak explanation. That kinda raises the eyebrows for me. So I would probably start thinking about canceling. I don't think it would be that tough to move the information that I have stored with ChatGPT elsewhere. If it's to a strong contender. - 这是一个好问题。如果只是出于好奇，那可能得是免费的，因为除非它是非常独特的东西，否则我总能找到一个大概能免费实现同样功能的 AI 平台。大多数公司似乎都有很好的分层结构来拉拢那些只想试用一下的客户，然后客户会发现“哦，没错，我确实需要这个”。所以我不太确定那个门槛是多少。但肯定不会超过我为 ChatGPT 支付的价格。如果 ChatGPT 想要涨价，除非有某种重大的改变或巨大的改进，否则我看不出这个价格能在我不产生抵触心理的情况下涨多少。每月 30 美元，超过这个数我可能就会开始寻找替代方案了，倒不是我觉得它不值这个价，而是因为如果他们一下子涨价 50%，通常他们又不会解释原因，看起来他们只会说因为我们要付 GPU 费用什么的。如果在没有任何解释或解释很牵强的情况下涨价，我会表示怀疑。所以我可能会开始考虑取消订阅。如果有一个强有力的竞争对手，我觉得把我存储在 ChatGPT 中的信息转移到别处并不算太难。

35:49-36:20 - Researcher: That's super helpful - so you'd need a free tier to try something new unless it's truly unique, and ChatGPT would lose you at around $30month, especially if the price jump wasn't well explained or came with clear improvements. David, this has been incredibly valuable. Thank you so much for sharing all these details about how you use AI, your decision-making process, and what drives your subscription choices. Your insights - especially around project-based work, the constant platform experimentation, and how you think about annual costs - are exactly what we needed to hear. Really appreciate your time today! - 非常有帮助——除非它真的独一无二，否则你需要一个免费层级来尝试新事物，而 ChatGPT 如果涨到每月 30 美元左右就会失去你，特别是如果涨价理由不充分或者没有明显的改进。 David，这些信息非常有价值。非常感谢你分享关于你如何使用 AI、你的决策过程以及驱动你订阅选择的所有细节。你的洞察力——特别是关于基于项目的拆分、不断的平台尝试以及你对年度成本的思考——正是我们需要听到的。非常感谢你今天的时间！

36:20-36:23 - David: Pleasure. It was very fun. I like doing these things. - 很荣幸。非常有趣，我喜欢参与这类访谈。

36:26-36:36 - Researcher: I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Your thoughtful answers made it a great conversation. Thanks again, and best of luck with your work - sounds like you're really leveraging AI in some smart ways. Take care, David! - 我很高兴你喜欢！你深思熟虑的回答让这次对话非常棒。再次感谢，祝你工作顺利——听起来你确实在以一些非常聪明的方式利用 AI。保重，David！

36:39-36:40 - David: Thank you. You too. - 谢谢。你也是。