Opinion: Engineers Should Be Paid by LLMs, Not the Other Way Around

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A software engineer argues that AI language models should compensate users rather than charge them, contending that the real value in any AI interaction comes from the human expertise embedded in each prompt. The author claims that when engineers write prompts, they are contributing years of domain knowledge, problem-solving experience, and contextual judgment that the model itself does not possess. According to the post, the current token-based pricing model effectively has skilled professionals paying to donate their expertise to AI systems. The piece was originally published in April 2026 and reposted to DEV Community to reach a wider audience. The author acknowledges the argument is unconventional but frames it as an honest critique of how the AI industry has structured its value exchange with technical users.

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