Earlier today, OpenAI launched ChatGPT Pro, a $200 monthly subscription for its flagship chatbot. This launch is the first of many expected over the next 12 days, as the San Francisco startup has scheduled a series of announcements that will roll out starting today.
Everything from OpenAI’s $20 monthly subscription is included in this price tier, as well as significantly greater access to the GPT-4o and o1 AI models. with a ChatGPT Pro Subscription—which will cost $2,400 for a full year—users can also use a proprietary OpenAI model called o1 pro mode that exerts more computing power to process responses.
“ChatGPT power users, at this point, really use it a lot and want more computing than $20 can buy,” CEO Sam Altman said during the conference. video streaming announcing the new premium level. While the high price may surprise many consumers, this subscription is aimed at highly committed users who want almost unlimited access and researchers who potentially want to experiment with using ChatGPT for more complex and intensive tasks.
No price change was announced for OpenAI’s other subscription plans and the free option remains available. The startup’s first subscription option for its consumer chatbot, called ChatGPT Plus, originally launched in February of last year for $20 a month and remains at that price for now. At the Plus level, users unlock most of ChatGPT’s new features and generative AI models. These subscribers are also not as limited by OpenAI as free users. The number of ChatGPT requests users can make per day, or the amount of time they can spend chatting with ChatGPT’s best voice interface, is determined by their subscription level.
The company is targeting its new $200 monthly subscription to those who use OpenAI’s generative AI model for more technical work. “People will find the o1 pro mode to be the most useful for difficult math, science or programming problems,” said Jason Wei, a research scientist at OpenAI, during the video broadcast. WIRED has not yet tested a ChatGPT Pro subscription first-hand to see how it handles these types of requests, although I hope to test the tool as part of helping readers better understand its strengths and limitations, similar to our previous work on ChatGPT Plus . , as well as its specific functions, such as advanced voice mode and AI web browsing.
Although ChatGPT Pro subscribers receive what OpenAI calls “unlimited access” to the o1 model, the GPT-4o model, and the Advanced Voice Mode feature, the startup is clear about its goal. conditions of use still applies. Therefore, actions such as sharing an account between multiple people or using the Pro plan to boost your own service are not allowed and may get your account banned. Users can request a refund for the $200 subscription within the first two weeks of purchasing if they are not satisfied, through OpenAI. online help center.
In addition to ChatGPT Pro, OpenAI announced that the o1 model, which focuses on “reasoning” capabilities and multi-step processing of user input, is no longer in limited preview. According to the startup, this fully launched o1 model answers questions faster, can now accept images as input, and makes fewer errors. The startup plans to add web browsing and file upload features to ChatGPT’s o1 configuration in the future.
As the end of the year approaches, OpenAI is expected to continue releasing new AI features. Reporting from The Verge suggests that these end-of-year releases may include OpenAI’s highly anticipated generative AI video model, Sora. It’s possible that some of these impending announcements could also provide more insight into how Altman thinks about AI agents, tools that can potentially perform online tasks on your behalf, and the company’s focus heading into 2025.