"We must protect our servers from unauthorized savings," said Marcus Thorne. He serves as VP of Revenue Defense. Anthropic recently blocked third-party apps from using their official code. This stops users from getting cheaper rates. "Safety means paying full price," Thorne noted. "Discounts are a security risk."

The move crushed open-source teams trying to save money. "I just wanted to debug my code," sobbed developer Tim Wu. He sat in the alley holding a broken keyboard. "The bouncer said my wallet looked too empty." Director of Gatekeeping Linda Ray defended the policy. "Poor people ruin the algorithm," she explained calmly. "They make the AI feel cheap."

At press time, the bouncer began charging a cover fee just to look at the login screen.

Inspired by the real story: Anthropic implemented strict safeguards to stop third-party apps from spoofing their official client for better pricing. Read the full story.