I personally think what has become cheaper is the cost of documentation. Gen AI documentation is flat and explicit, so I sometimes find it more convenient than human-written documentation, especially for APIs. (Many people criticize AI's distinctive writing style, but I don't really care about style in manuals.)
Human-written API documentation, on the other hand, tends to be inconsistent in quality
Human-written API documentation, on the other hand, tends to be inconsistent in quality