OpenAI this week signaled that it will soon start charging for ChatGPT, its AI-powered viral chatbot that can write essays, emails, poems and even computer code. In an announcement on the company’s official Discord server, OpenAI said that it is “starting to think about how to monetize ChatGPT” as one of the ways to “ensure [the tool’s] long-term viability.”
Apparently, the monetized version of ChatGPT will be called ChatGPT Professional. That’s according to a waitlist link OpenAI posted on the Discord server, which asks a variety of questions about payment preferences, including “At what price (per month) would you consider ChatGPT so expensive?” that you wouldn’t consider buying it?”
The waiting list also outlines the benefits of ChatGPT Professional, including windows with no “blackout” (i.e. unavailability), no throttling, and an unlimited number of messages with ChatGPT – “at least 2 times the normal daily limit.” OpenAI says that those who complete the waitlist form may be selected to try ChatGPT Professional, but that the program is in experimental stages and will not be widely available “at this time.”
Image Credits: open AI
Despite controversy and various bans, ChatGPT has proven to be a publicity win for OpenAI, garnering mainstream media attention and spawning countless memes on social media. Some investors are implementing ChatGPT in their workflows. Ryan Reynolds recruited ChatGPT to write an ad for Mint Mobile, the mobile phone operator he owns. And Microsoft will reportedly incorporate the AI behind ChatGPT into its Office and Bing suite.
ChatGPT had over a million users at the beginning of December, an enviable user base by any measure. But it’s an expensive service to run. According to OpenAI co-founder and CEO Sam Altman, ChatGPT’s operating expenses are “mind-boggling,” amounting to a few cents per chat in total compute costs. (ChatGPT is hosted on Microsoft’s Azure cloud.)
Working on a professional version of ChatGPT; it will offer higher limits and faster performance. If you are interested, please join our waiting list here: https://t.co/Eh87OViRie
— Greg Brockman (@gdb) January 11, 2023
OpenAI is under pressure to turn a profit on products like ChatGPT ahead of an alleged $10 billion investment by Microsoft. OpenAI expects to earn $200 million by 2023, a pittance compared to the more than $1 billion that has been invested in the startup thus far.
Semafor reported this week that Microsoft is looking to take a 49% net stake in OpenAI, valuing the company at around $29 billion. Under the terms of the deal, Microsoft would receive three-quarters of OpenAI’s profits until it recoups its investment, with additional investors taking 49% and OpenAI retaining the remaining 2% in equity.
OpenAI has an unusual corporate structure, operating under a “limited profit” model that limits backers’ returns to 100 times their investment, or possibly less in the future.
Source: news.google.com