Ok, that makes more sense. If the other comments are correct in saying this was done using a $200/mo personal subscription, I get this is more of a “what is possible, and how much would it cost without subsidized pricing” type of experiment. Thank you for clarifying on that.

He didn’t spend that much either. That’s the equivalent API cost using his $200/month subscription. It took less than a day so I guess it cost about $7 in actual money.

How on earth does someone just randomly spend $20k? If he's not going to maintain the project, the whole thing seems completely pointless.