I have this issue with AI services. I have identified several services that provide me useful services (image generation for posts, edits for what I write, identification of journal articles relevant to my writing, and chats with my large collection of notes and highlights) The issue is no individual tool does a great job of all of these things and I don’t use any of the several individual tools enough to justify the $20 a month that seems to be the going rate for any given tool. I could keep telling myself that this retirement writing gig should be treated as a hobby that I can afford, but there is a principle involved here. I think of many of my posts as exploring tools for teachers and $75-100 a month in their situation is likely a bit much.
I have found a general-purpose AI service, the ChatLLM tool from Abacus AI, that I have for me what is unlimited use for $10 a month. For a month or so now, I have been duplicating my use of ChatLLM and ChatGPT and can find very little difference in what the tools generate. Abacus.AI has an introductory offer that is a little confusing. The first month is free, but you must purchase one month and then you can cancel after the first two months.
The interface is very similar to what you experience with other AI services. There is a prompt field and responses appear above. ChatLLM allows the individual series of chat interactions with a given purpose allowing you to return if you have a reason to pick up again on an earlier exploration.
ChatLLM appears to function as an API allowing you to select from different AI services. This option seems useful for those of us who like to explore the possible differences among the AI services that are available.
AbacusAI offers many features I have not bothered to explain here in detail. I have learned what I thought necessary to meet my personal needs and it should be very easy for anyone with any experience with other platforms to get started. Here is a more complete review by another writer.
