I got stung by this Program AI Coding Assistant Scam Website and am posting this to help prevent the same happening to others.
As part of an evaluation of the suitability of different AI models for developing software systems from scratch …
… I signed up to a service called ProgramAI.
They required a fee of $7 for a “trial”.
I was willing to pay that. I would suggest that you don’t however (see in the article linked above that this product is far behind the rest of the AI world), and the notes below that explain why I believe this site is simply a scam.
I cancelled my subscription the same day.
However, a week later they have charged me $74.43.
I am pursuing this with them, as well as with my bank — if I get an approprate response from ProgramAI then I shall update this article to reflect that — but given a number factors, I consider that actually this site is simply a scam site set up to steal money from those foolish enough to sign up to their “trial”.
These are the factors that indicate to me that Program AI is a Scam:
- They charge to have a trial, for a ridiculously inferior product
(eg. all of the larger tools, ChatGPT, Claude, etc. that are leagues ahead of this product do not charge — the reason to charge for the trial is just so they get your payment details) - They billed me even though I cancelled my subscription
(This is the main reason) - There is no paper trail
(luckily I was doing research and posted that article above and so know that I did unsubscribe and on which date, because I have no emails confirming either my signing up or my cancellation — only the bank transactions) - They have a fake Program AI application form, which leads you to a page that says “Congratulations on being accepted to trial ProgramAI!”
- The snarky, passive-aggressive, unsubscribe page,
Check it out:
For SEO purposes (and clarity about the site I’m talking about),
here are some of the links to ProgramAI:
