I would propose another mechanism: even the free-tier models have already completely saturated what most people are capable of appreciating.
Honestly, outside of coding tasks, the AI Summary at the top of every Google search is adequate for 99% of what I need and I hardly even use ChatGPT any more.
Or maybe needing.
Google's free AI responses are moving the bar on what I expect from search. But maybe not in the direction you think.