Since they offer a subscription, keeping you engaged just requires them to waste more compute. The ideal case would be that the LLM gives you a one shot correct response using as little compute as possible.
In a subscription business, you don't want the user to use as few resources as possible. It's the wrong optimization to make.
You want users to keep coming back as often as possible (at the lowest cost-per-run possible though). If they are not coming back they are not renewing.
So, yes, it makes sense to make answers shorter to cut on compute cost (which these SMS-length replies could accomplish) but the main point of making the AI flirtatious or "concerned" is possibly the addictive factor of having a shoulder to cry on 24/7, one that does not call you on your BS and is always supportive... for just $20 a month
The "one-shot correct response" to "I failed my exams" might be "Tough luck, try better next time" but if you do that, you will indeed use very little compute because people will cancel the subscription and never come back.
AI subscriptions are already very sticky . I can't imagine at least not paying for one, so I doubt they care about retention like the rest of us plebs do.
First imagine paying a subscription fee which actually makes the company profitable and gives investors ROI, then I think you can also imagine not paying that amount at all.
Plus level subscription has limits too, and Pro level costs 10x more - as long as Pro users don't use ChatGPT 10x more than Plus users on average, OpenAI can benefit. There's also the user retention factor.
