> Nothing really stopping an agent from getting a key
It very much is possible to prevent an agent from having access to a key. For example, local encryption, Yubikey or other hardware device, or just running the agent in an isolated environment.
> Yet I feel no inspiration to see those projects through to the end. I feel no connection to them because I didn't build them
For me, this is a key differentiator between “AI-assisted” and “vibe-coded”. With the former, I may use AI in many ways: some code generation, review, bouncing ideas, or whatever. But I engage in every step, review and improve the generated code, disagree with the reviews (and still contribute a good proportion of hand-written code, at least in the core business logic). In this way I retain sufficient ownership over the output to feel it is my own.
With vibe-coding, I feel exactly as you describe it.
If not then it is only a matter of time before other providers are forced into similar price hikes.