In my mind it is about access to a high performance network inside the data center and to the rest of the world as much or more that I can rent a machine there.

I'd also say there are a lot of cases where we only need intermittent service, like why pay for a whole server to sit there to serve 100 requests which could be handled by a simple Lambda function?

A good one I have used is the roads and transport idea. You do not build roads to travel you just use shared infrastructure when you need it same way cloud works.

Maybe they can handle a direct explanation. How many of you have a phone? How many of you use a laptop? The laptop overheats sometimes, huh? But it can do more? Well, server farms have air conditioning to let them heat up, but you can do even more. Like AI, ChatGPT Claude Gemini you know? Those fake videos you see all over tiktok?