OpenAI is considering an exponential increase in subscription prices for the upcoming versions of ChatGPT. While no final decision has been made, this potential price hike reflects the growing costs and capabilities of AI technology.
Highlights:
- According to leaked internal discussions, OpenAI is exploring subscription prices of up to $2,000 per month for ChatGPT business plans.
- The company has already surpassed 1 million paying users for its enterprise-focused ChatGPT services.
- New models like Strawberry and Orion are expected to improve logical reasoning capabilities.
Is ChatGPT really getting that Costly?
This report came via The Information and has been the buzz of the town since then. In the internal discussions at OpenAI, they are considering to jack up the subscription prices for ChatGPT as high as $2,000 per month.
Remember that these prices will only be for the big organizations that are subscribing to ChatGPT Enterprise or Team plans. So, if you are using it for free or have the simple ChatGPT Plus plan, you shouldn’t be worried.
ChatGPT Enterprise is made for, as the name says, Enterprises. They get unlimited higher-speed GPT-4 access, longer context windows for processing longer inputs, advanced data analysis capabilities, and higher security as well as privacy.
On the other hand, there is the ChatGPT Team, made for small companies. It can generate better code, craft emails, analyze data, and supercharge any type of work in a collaborative team workspace.
Finally, we have ChatGPT Edu made for universities. It has advanced text, vision and data analysis capabilities, along with enterprise-level security.
These premium offerings by OpenAI might see a significant rise in pricing soon because they need more money for the new models to be trained..
The astronomical operating costs associated with ChatGPT, particularly due to its massive free user base, are a primary factor in these pricing discussions. As OpenAI develops more advanced models like Strawberry and Orion, which promise enhanced logical reasoning capabilities, the costs are likely to escalate further.
Strawberry technology is reported to benefit from extended computing times before generating responses. Initially, it’s not expected to be released as a standalone model but will likely be used to generate training data for the upcoming Orion language model. These advancements could significantly improve ChatGPT’s performance and capabilities.
A higher monthly fee could indicate OpenAI’s confidence that its AI technology provides substantial value to businesses. The company may believe that organizations would be willing to pay amounts comparable to human labour costs for AI assistance. Bloomberg has also reported that there are around 1 million paid users for ChatGPT Enterprise, Team and Edu.
So, there are many businesses and their employees right now that are taking advantage of their service. And this is not just limited to the US, around half of the users are coming from outside the US.
While this means that they have the market power to do so, they are not the only player right now. So, if the customers don’t like this move, they might shift to some other AI chatbot. Of course, not everyone will go away, but it’s best not to decrease your market share.
As OpenAI continues to develop more advanced AI models and expand its enterprise offerings, the company faces the challenge of balancing innovation with accessibility. The potential price increase reflects the growing sophistication and value of AI technology, but it may also raise questions about who can afford to access these cutting-edge tools.
Conclusion
While the $2,000 monthly subscription is still under consideration, it’s clear that OpenAI is positioning itself at the forefront of AI development. A lot of people, even students, are now using ChatGPT, as this new Harvard Study has shown.
