However, why is that even surprising? Tailwind is essentially a frontend css stylesheet. What business could there possibly be around that?
I understand, they have UI kits, books, etc. but just fundamentally, it was never going to be easy to monetize around that long term, with or without AI.
The comment you are responding to said their revenue is down 80%. So they did monetize training and services, and I don't see how that would have been a problem long term if AI didn't come along and make all of that unnecessary.
Tailwind also has a compiler of sorts (so you only include in the bundle the exact styles you need) and a bunch of tooling built around it. In an alternate universe it could have been a fully paid enterprise tool, but then it might not have caught on.