Are you giving your team AI tools?
Published October 6, 2025 • Based on Founder Reality Episode 26
Also available on: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • YouTube
Something fascinating is happening in AI adoption that most founders aren't paying attention to: governments and corporations are racing to give away premium AI tools for free. Not as marketing stunts—as strategic infrastructure investments.
Let me break down what's happening and why it matters for anyone building products in 2025.
The Free AI Movement
UAE is planning to give all citizens free ChatGPT Plus subscriptions. That's $20/month per person, tens of millions of dollars monthly, just to ensure their population has AI access.
They're not alone:
- Singapore launched "Ask Jasmine" - an AI assistant across 70 government agencies
- Canada gave Microsoft Copilot to all federal workers (hundreds of thousands of people)
- Finland is training 1% of their entire population through free AI courses
But it's not just governments. Private companies are jumping in too:
- eBay gave ChatGPT subscriptions to 10,000 small sellers
- Rappi (Latin America's delivery giant) bundles 6 months of ChatGPT Plus with their $5/month subscription
- Startups like JVD are making ChatGPT Plus mandatory for all employees
Why This Matters (The Uncomfortable Truth)
Here's what nobody's saying out loud: We're creating a global AI divide.
Sam Altman said the haves and have-nots in the AI-first world means having more compute versus less compute. But it's deeper than that.
Developed countries are pouring hundreds of billions into AI infrastructure. UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia—they're strategically involved because they can afford to be. Meanwhile, countries in South America, parts of Asia, and developing regions simply don't have the capital for massive data centers and compute power.
For someone in Toronto or San Francisco, $20/month for ChatGPT Plus is nothing. Convert that to local currency in India, the Philippines, or other developing markets? It's a completely different calculation. (OpenAI has started offering discounted pricing in India specifically because of this.)
The productivity gap is about to explode. Developed nations with free or subsidized AI access for citizens will see productivity gains that developing nations simply can't match.
And we're still early. My parents are just starting to use AI. Senior citizens aren't using it at all yet. But five years from now? The divide will be stark.
The Opportunity for Founders
If you're building a product right now, here's what this means:
- Stop Worrying About "AI Wrappers"
I used to hate the term "AI wrapper" too. It felt like cheating, like you weren't building something real.
I was completely wrong.
The assumption that "everyone will just use ChatGPT directly" is false. Most people:
- Don't have time to learn prompt engineering
- Don't know what to ask
- Don't want to context-switch between apps
- Don't even have premium AI subscriptions
Example from SimpleDirect: We added an AI co-pilot that helps customers understand loan options. It tells them which loan has the lowest cost, lowest rate, and best fit for their situation.
Result? Dramatic reduction in support tickets. Our customers (homeowners in their 40s-60s) aren't tech-savvy. Expecting them to copy loan details, open ChatGPT, paste everything, and ask the right questions? Completely unrealistic.
We built it using OpenAI's API. I'm not ashamed to admit that. We created massive value for customers without increasing headcount.
- Give Your Team AI Tools (Right Now)
If your startup isn't providing AI tools to employees, you're behind. Full stop.
What we provide at SimpleDirect:
- GitHub Copilot for all developers
- Cursor subscriptions on demand
- Claude Pro for operational team
- ChatGPT Plus whenever requested
Yes, it costs money. But so does everything else that makes your team productive. The ROI is immediate.
"But my team doesn't need AI—they're not technical"
Wrong. Everyone benefits from AI access, regardless of role. Customer support, operations, marketing—AI improves every function.
And you don't need separate subscriptions for everything. If you use Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, AI tools are often included or available for $2-3/month per employee.
- Don't Assume Users Know How to Use AI
This is the controversial take: Build as if your users have never used AI before.
Most people in your target market probably haven't. They might have heard of ChatGPT, but they've never actually used it consistently. The tech bubble makes us forget this.
Observe, don't assume:
- If users struggle with features, add AI summaries
- If support tickets repeat the same questions, add AI explanations
- If onboarding is confusing, add AI guidance
Make their experience easier. Ignore people who call you an "AI wrapper." They're not your customers.
The Content Creation Revolution (Use It Carefully)
Sora 2 just hit #1 on the App Store overnight. Google integrated Veo 3 directly into YouTube Shorts. AI video generation is here.
The barriers to content creation are collapsing:
- You don't need professional cameras anymore
- You don't need expensive lighting
- You don't need a full production team
I run Founder Reality podcast with just two people: myself and John handling content distribution. We use AI extensively for planning, brainstorming, and automation.
If we can do it, so can you.
But Here's the Warning
Authenticity still wins. Always.
Remember when Will Smith got roasted for AI-generated content promoting his book tour? Or when Coca-Cola's AI-generated Christmas ad got destroyed online?
People crave authenticity. They can smell AI-generated content from a mile away.
Use AI as a tool to deliver your story—never let it become the story.
The bar for content quality is actually going up, not down. Just because everyone has access to AI video generation doesn't mean everyone will be a great creator. The same way everyone having an iPhone didn't kill professional photographers.
The Perplexity Browser Play
Last week I tried to use Perplexity's browser to summarize a 2,000-word essay on Hacker News. Turned out I needed a $200/month subscription.
Two days later, they made it free for everyone.
Smart move. They're going for the ecosystem play:
- Perplexity for finance (instant stock data)
- Main Perplexity app
- Now the browser with AI assistant
They're being the anti-Google. Whatever Big Tech won't do, they will.
Privacy concerns are real though. Brave's security team demonstrated prompt injection attacks that could steal banking information through the browser. Perplexity says they've fixed it, but the risk of AI agents taking over your actual machine (not a VM) remains.
I'm not connecting my Chrome history yet. But I'm watching closely.
What This All Means
Three major shifts are happening simultaneously:
- AI infrastructure is becoming free for developers (and increasingly expensive for developing nations)
- The global productivity gap is widening based on AI access
- Ecosystem lock-in is the ultimate prize for founders
The adoption bottleneck is real. eBay giving away ChatGPT Plus to 10,000 US sellers proves that even in America, AI adoption isn't universal. Most people aren't using premium AI tools. Many don't even know how.
The Bottom Line for Founders
Don't assume your users:
- Have ChatGPT Plus subscriptions
- Know how to use AI effectively
- Understand prompt engineering
- Want to context-switch to another app
Instead:
- Embed AI directly into your product
- Make it free for your users
- Focus on solving their specific problem
- Ignore the "AI wrapper" critics
The opportunity is massive. As the AI divide grows, the founders who make AI accessible—not just available—will win.
The noise will settle. Keep building. Ignore the critics. Focus on the users who actually benefit from what you're creating.
What do you think about the global AI divide? Are you giving your team AI tools? Let me know on Twitter @TheGeorgePu
This is George Pu, and you're reading Founder Reality.
For more unfiltered founder insights, visit founderreality.com or subscribe to my newsletter at newsletter.founderreality.com
