Subscription Gate for Creative AI

Platform owners are beginning to bundle pro creative tools and their best AI features into single subscriptions, reserving the most advanced generative capabilities for recurring‑fee customers while leaving legacy one‑time buys functionally second‑class. That creates an effective two‑tier creative economy where access to the newest AI productivity boosts is determined by subscription status and platform affiliation. — This matters because it concentrates AI‑driven creative advantage behind platform paywalls, reshaping who can compete culturally and economically and raising questions about competition, data access, and fair compensation for creative labor.