For free does not exist!

"Not much in life is free, but sunshine is!" is probably, often, said in the UK (and/or US?)… but is it?

When you buy new potatoes, the scraping is “free”…
When you buy something at one of those annoying chemists, you often see “buy one, get one free” or, even worse, “buy two, get two free”…
  And supermarkets frequently join in on this too; so much for overconsumption?

I once saw a social media comment on a supermarket-post of a box of strawberries, offered as "buy one, get one free” for 4 euros; the person didn't seem to have much money and wondered why it was not possible to just buy a single box for 2 euros.
But it did made me think, because in terms of the net price, it is the same; plus, it reduces overconsumption (do I really need two or am I lured in?) and it makes the decision of whether or not to buy a bit more equitable for everyone.
Another thing…my argument is that when you buy a T-shirt from those cheap (and sometimes even the more expensive!) shops, it frequently comes at the expense of the well-being of the people who have to make it.
Or, in other words: something that costs next to nothing, must be made from something and/or by someone that cost next to nothing!!

Words like “free” and “half price” generally work wonders.
Marketers go to great lengths to get consumers to buy, although… “they” really ought to know that consumers are not stupid (or perhaps we know it all too well and are just kidding ourselves?).
Do you really think, a.i. Jumbo - Dutch supermarket chain- (hello!.. was in their rebranding PR, but in this text to be read a bit more cynical), that no one notices when the price stays the same but the biscuit size is only half. Or Koopmans - Dutch baking mixes, thinking we will not see that there’s 150 grams less pancake mix in the box - so annoying: nowadays you’re left with 150 ml of milk (!) and get fewer pancakes per box...
Is it actually cheap, or really on sale? Shops operate based on quarterly or annual turnover; for the “buy-one-get-one-free” deals, it often means you are paying a slightly inflated price for the rest of the quarter or year to make up for it!
What bothers me more, though, is my recent experience with the use of (probably) cheaper ingredients, where that lovely cream tart suddenly no longer tastes like rich pastry cream, but is far too sweet and has a weird, buttery aftertaste!
Mind you: with cheap ingredients, you do pay the price for reduced quality or a poorer taste experience, often leading you to throw the food away or simply enjoy those “treats” less.

While it is true that the sun rises for free, what you do with that sunlight can cost a lot of money.
…growing, harvesting, and selling fruit and vegetables comes at a price.
…sunlight can be used to heat a home or water and converted into energy for all kinds of production processes, but those solar panels are NOT free!
…and storing the generated energy for those hours when the sun is not shining visibly is no small feat either.
…we know nowadays that lying in the sun for long periods isn't really good for your skin.
Mind you: in my view, using sunlight instead of fossil fuels is always preferable, but the transition entails enormous (short term) investments and, to some extent (and hopefully only temporarily), increases inequality of opportunity. And while sunlight is incredibly beneficial for the production of vitamin D3, we often associate that beautiful tanned skin (or, as in the Dark Ages, the lack thereof!) with a beauty ideal or social status.

When you think about it further, is AI then also, in reality, such a “free” tool?
All the information we want is instantly available, without conducting thorough market research, undergoing proper training, consulting experts or experienced people, doing “Friday afternoon” experiments, or, above all, thinking for ourselves?!
… that a large part of AI actually consists of “stolen” information - everything publicly available is taken (I imagine Wikipedia isn’t too happy about that) and it’s incredible how many IT or data companies (probably AI related!), in the past year, contacted me about my training, knowledge, skills, and experience for “their oh-so-handy” databases (how did I ever manage without “them”?).
… that AI which performs excellently also requires excellent performing data centres, and that these machines need massive amounts of electricity and millions of Liters of water for cooling.
… that constantly regurgitating existing information instead of thinking for oneself (and conducting trial-and-error experiments) yields little to no innovation over time.
… that this “dragnet” approach gathers not only high-quality knowledge and data but also utter nonsense! And, as far as I can see, everything is treated as having equal value.
               Do we simply don’t care about this and go through with it?
Mind you: just like automation and robotics, AI certainly offers (enormous) benefits—for instance, in medical diagnostics, processing vast amounts of data, handling repetitive tasks, and even translating
a simple blog post from Dutch to English 😉.

But what you don’t have with AI, and yes, I’m doing a bit of self-promotion here, is ME!
…my information, experiences and observations, often not expressible in data.
…my interpretation and advice, going beyond a specific topic, because there are connections to make with other subjects or issues.
…someone with over 25 years of experience as a Colour Specialist, preceded by a role researching LASER-Markable Engineering Plastics, and before that, working as a Laboratory analyst and coordinator handling more than just plastics.
…someone who has travelled far and wide to gather essential information through exhibitions, seminars, education, training sessions, other Experts, customers, spectrophotometer manufacturers, fellow Technologists, Colourists, Lab technicians, Operators…
…someone with a wealth of experience in research, colour development, projects, brainstorming sessions, who chaired the global Colour Team and led the regional Colour organisation… learning through trial and error!
…someone who knows, or can assess, both verbally and non-verbally, whether the recipient has truly understood the message or if further discussion and questions are needed.
In short: the human, sometimes silly, non-automated “me”, unpredictably coming up with alternatives, establishing other connections or links, able to analytically (and sometimes intuitively) identify root causes within people and processes, able to spark “Aha” moments,  one that innovates or stimulates product and colour development, tuned to the relevant human recipient(s).

“Cheap is dear” and “knowing the price of everything but the value of nothing” are two apt sayings illustrating that “free” is a highly relative concept… and that we view the important things in life, including quality education and training, by their proper and lasting value.