OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, is reportedly considering raising its subscription prices. Currently, its ChatGPT Plus plan costs $20 per month, offering features like priority access to new tools, custom GPTs, and DALL-E 3 image generation. However, reports suggest that the cost could go up significantly, with some rumours pointing to a potential increase to as much as $2,000 per month.
It’s unclear whether this price hike will impact the existing ChatGPT Plus service or apply only to OpenAI’s upcoming models, such as the one codenamed “Strawberry.” Little is known about Strawberry, but it is expected to have improved reasoning abilities to handle more complex tasks. OpenAI is also using a new method called post-training, which allows its AI models to improve based on human feedback even after the initial training phase is complete, reports Windows Central, citing sources.
Also read: Nvidia, Apple and Microsoft in talks to invest in OpenAI
This potential price increase comes after OpenAI reached a major milestone—over 1 million paid business users. ChatGPT’s daily active users also surpassed 200 million last week, driven in part by the launch of GPT-4o. Despite these successes, the news of a price hike has been met with mixed reactions on social media. Some users have expressed concerns, with one Reddit user suggesting that such a price jump would only make sense for something close to true artificial general intelligence (AGI).
OpenAI’s financial struggles are also a key factor behind this move. Reports indicate that the company is on track to lose as much as $5 billion within the next 12 months. Keeping ChatGPT operational costs OpenAI up to $700,000 a day, not including the massive energy demands required for AI technologies. Despite the financial challenges, OpenAI may receive another round of funding from key backers like Microsoft and NVIDIA, which could push its market valuation to $100 billion.
Also read: OpenAI launches GPT-4o AI model that’s free for all ChatGPT users: What’s new
As AI continues to be a priority for tech giants, OpenAI faces pressure to find a sustainable financial path forward while staying competitive.
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