We’re opening the door to charging for simple Google type searches. I worry that 15 years from now, I’ll have to pay like $1 per question.
Search engines cost money to run. If you aren't paying for the product, you're being monetized some other way. You're the product that's served up to the real customers - the businesses who buy data and advertising.
That's why Kagi is a thing even though there's free search engines all over the place - you pay a monthly subscription, and then you are the search engine's customer.