Sorry for bumping my own thread, but I just had a hostile interaction with the bot, and I found it baffling that a search engine would try and argue with me.
I did a general web search for "Why are french fries so overpriced" And the bot did a point by point refutation of what I said. It dropped 30 bless'ed data points, none of them persuaded me. It was all "they have to pass the cost on to you" nonsense, which is a common refrain on reddit.
I replied that if a restaurant charges more than three dollars for fries, I stop eating there.
Gone are the days of the five-dollar road lunch. Even pre-wrapped supermarket sandwiches are inching towards eight dollars.
What made me angriest about this bot talking back at me was that I didn't select "chat". I meant to do a web search.
I remember under Bush II, the first time they tried killing budget meals, under the auspices of a fuel surcharge. It was a dark trend then, it's a dark trend now.