> How can you say this when people are active paying for subscription that are hundreds of dollars per month?

People like cute things and people like to gamble. It's not surprising people are getting their fix via something like that.

But that is behavior distinct from real need .. what happens, for example, should AI suddenly disappear for everybody save for a few in, say, code generation or other low population applications?

Will the world end?

People need very little to sustain their life. I don't know why you bare bringing up real need. Electricity isn't a real need either.