Nice to meet you. I'm in my 50s and it was supposed to be just ChatGPT.

Recently, I have a problem that is hard to tell people.

I can't stop paying for AI subscriptions.

Honestly, it was supposed to be just ChatGPT.

Once again, nice to meet you.

I am a camel walking through the desert of AI.

I am an ordinary salaryman in my 50s.

I don't have any special skills.

I am not an entrepreneur either.

I have never succeeded in investing.

I'm just an average middle-aged guy who loves late-night cup noodles and beer.

Just one thing.

Lately, I've been paying a bit more for AI than others.

I go to work on weekdays.

I wake up in the morning,

do my work,

come home,

take a bath,

and eat dinner.

That is my everyday life.

It's strange how when you reach your 50s,

Time feels like it's moving faster than when I was young.

Before I know it, the year is over.

My gray hair is increasing.

My salary isn't increasing much.

My physical strength is gradually declining.

Yet, the changes in the world are only getting faster.

That was when I encountered AI.

At first, I was skeptical.

AI?

Isn't that just something that answers questions?

That was the extent of my understanding.

To be honest,

I looked down on it a little.

I thought it was just the same as a search engine anyway.

One day.

I opened ChatGPT on a whim.

And then,

I typed in the name of a car I used to drive.

I was surprised.

It started explaining everything from the first model to the features of each generation, just like a car magazine editor.

Next, I asked about secret doors in castles.

It answered that normally, too.

And it got more detailed the more I asked.

At that moment, I felt a little scared.

Wait?

Is this,

more amazing than I thought?

Before I knew it, an hour had passed.

It had been a long time.

Since I had been so absorbed in something.

When I was a child,

it felt like the time I bought a new game console.

And a few days later.

I paid for a subscription.

"If it's a few thousand yen a month, it's an investment in myself."

I told myself that.

At the time, I thought.

This should be enough.

Looking back now,

that was the beginning of everything.

Once you start using ChatGPT,

you start getting curious about Claude.

I heard that Claude is better at writing.

I saw an article saying that.

At first, I ignored it.

I am in my 50s.

I am an adult.

I don't get tempted that easily.

At least, for about three days, anyway.

Before I knew it, I had opened Claude.

And then, the other day,

I started a paid subscription for Claude as well.

The moment I pressed the payment button,

I thought,

"This is the last one."

I think I felt the same way when I signed up for ChatGPT.

And then, after that,

I started getting curious about image generation.

If I'm going to do it, I might as well,

I want to try creating images myself.

As a result of starting to look into it with that thought in mind,

for some reason, I ended up paying for Gemini as well.

Honestly,

my memory is a bit hazy from around this point.

Before I knew it,

AI subscriptions had started to slowly chip away at my wallet.

One night.

I finished work,

took a bath,

and was drinking beer while eating cup noodles.

The clock read 11:40 PM.

There were empty cans on the table.

AI-related articles on my smartphone.

ChatGPT on my laptop.

Claude in another tab.

And Gemini in yet another tab.

I thought to myself,

What on earth are you doing?

That was when it happened.

I opened my credit card statement.

Just because.

Really, just because.

My finger stopped scrolling.

ChatGPT.

Claude.

Gemini.

And various others.

I quietly closed the screen.

I wanted to pretend I hadn't seen it.

By the way, my wife doesn't know.

No,

to be precise, she thinks it's only ChatGPT.

Before,

we had a conversation like this.

Wife

"Are you still using that AI?"

Me

"I am."

Wife

"About 3,000 yen a month?"

Me

"Well, about that much."

I nodded vaguely.

I wasn't lying.

But,

I wasn't telling the whole truth either.

There are some things in this world that are hard to explain.

Paying for AI is one of them.

Then, one day.

I was looking at social media.

"Achieved 100,000 yen a month with AI"

"Surpassed 300,000 yen a month with AI"

"AI changed my life"

"My side income exceeded my main job"

Amazing.

Truly amazing.

But,

honestly, it made me feel a little distressed.

Because,

That's because I wasn't on the side of those earning money with AI,

but on the side of those paying for AI.

People earning 100,000 yen a month.

People earning 300,000 yen a month.

People succeeding at automation.

Meanwhile, I was just,

slurping down cup noodles late at night,

reading articles about new AI.

Investment in the future.

Self-investment.

Cost of learning.

I was convincing myself with all sorts of words.

But,

one night I suddenly thought,

Am I just buying the future?

When I paid for ChatGPT,

I thought it was an investment in the future.

When I paid for Claude,

I thought it was an investment in the future.

When I paid for Gemini,

I thought it was an investment in the future.

The future.

The future.

The future.

Before I knew it,

nothing in the present had changed.

That night.

I was about to buy a paid article.

AI side hustle.

Monetization.

Roadmap.

Success stories.

Attractive words lined up.

I proceeded to the purchase button.

Just one more click.

But,

my hand stopped.

Am I going to buy the answer again?

At that moment,

For some reason, I found myself laughing.

I pay for a subscription to ChatGPT.

I also pay for a subscription to Claude.

I also pay for a subscription to Gemini.

And on top of that, I even buy paid articles.

How much am I going to spend before I'm satisfied?

In that case,

I'll try it out for myself first.

I might succeed.

I might fail.

Honestly,

I feel like the possibility of failure is higher.

But,

if that happens, then that's interesting too.

And so,

I decided to start an AI subscription laboratory.

In this laboratory,

I won't just write about successes.

I will also write about failures.

I will also write about how much I've spent.

I will also write about how much time I've spent working.

I will also write about my sales.

I will also write about the detours I've taken.

It's not about how much I've earned with AI,

but about what an ordinary salaryman in his 50s,

has tried while paying for AI services.

I will leave a record of that.

【Experimental data at the time of the first issue】

Age: 50s

Occupation: Ordinary salaryman

Hobbies: Late-night cup ramen and beer

AI spending: Increasing

Sales: Almost zero

Anxiety: High

Curiosity: Even higher

Difficulty of explaining to my wife: Increasing year by year

After closing the screen,

on the desk remained an empty beer can,

and an AI tab that was still left open.

Next time,

first, I will list everything I am paying for and how much.

I will lay it all out.