This just lends more fuel to AI skeptics that this entire thing is a massive, unsustainable grift. The explanation only adds confusion and implicitly means that this was not a mistake. What is someone to take away from this?

That $20/month is not profitable? That Anthropic thinks that people are willing to pay a 400% markup without batting an eye? That Anthropic is desperately trying to clean up their burn rate? Why should we trust a company that can screw up basic PR this hard?