OpenAI has launched a new pilot subscription plan for its highly popular text-generating AI, ChatGPT, called ChatGPT Plus. The subscription service aims to monetize the viral phenomenon that ChatGPT has become, offering benefits over the base-level ChatGPT, including general access to the AI even during peak times, faster response times, and priority access to new features and improvements.
The base-level ChatGPT, which had over a million users as of early December, will continue to be offered for free. At the moment, ChatGPT Plus is only available to customers in the U.S. OpenAI plans to begin the process of inviting people from its waitlist in the coming months and looks to expand Plus to additional countries and regions soon.
According to OpenAI, the launch of ChatGPT was originally a research preview to gather feedback and improve the system's limitations. The company has received millions of comments and has seen users find value across a range of professional use cases, including content drafting and editing, brainstorming, programming help, and learning new topics.
OpenAI hints that ChatGPT Plus might be the first of several plans to come. The company is actively exploring options for lower-cost plans, business plans, and data packs in addition to an API. OpenAI states that the subscription pricing will help make free access available to as many people as possible and that the offering will be refined and expanded based on feedback and needs.
Despite controversy and several bans, ChatGPT has been a significant public relations win for OpenAI, attracting major media attention and inspiring countless memes on social media. However, ChatGPT is a pricey service to run, with operating expenses amounting to a few cents per chat in total compute costs. OpenAI co-founder and CEO Sam Altman have described the expenses as "eye-watering."
OpenAI is under pressure to turn a profit on products like ChatGPT after a multibillion-dollar investment from Microsoft. The company aims to make $200 million in 2023, a small fraction of the more than $1 billion invested in the startup so far. Microsoft is working to incorporate OpenAI's text-generating technology into Bing soon, making the search engine more competitive with Google. Additionally, OpenAI is planning to introduce a mobile ChatGPT app in the future.
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