One thing that’s been bothering me about AI side projects is inference costs. With traditional software, a successful launch usually means higher profits. But with AI products, success can mean unexpectedly large bills.This has pushed me toward cheaper, less capable models and made me hesitate to even explore certain ideas. I don’t want every side project to become another $20/month subscription, but I also can’t compete with VC-backed companies willing to subsidize inference costs.Then I had this idea: what if users simply paid for their own inference?This already happens in some apps through locally configured API keys, but could the model be extended? If users bring their own AI account, developers can build AI-powered products without taking on variable inference costs. How many AI applications shouldn’t be subscription businesses at all?The challenge is that developers don’t want to handle user API keys, users don’t want to hand them out to every app they try, and nobody wants the...