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 a slew of announcements scheduled starting today.
Everything from OpenAI’s $20 monthly subscription is included in this price tier, as well as significantly increased 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 an exclusive OpenAI model called o1 pro mode that has more computing power to process responses.
“ChatGPT’s power users, right now, really use it a lot and want more computing than the $20 they can buy,” CEO Sam Altman said during the video broadcast announcing the new premium tier. Although the high price may come as a shock to many consumers, this subscription is aimed at hyper-committed users who want almost unlimited access and researchers who may want to experiment with ChatGPT for more complex and intensive tasks.
No price changes were 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 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 limited by both OpenAI and free users. The number of ChatGPT requests users can make per day, or the amount of time they can spend talking with ChatGPT’s premium voice interface, is determined by their subscription level.
The company is targeting its new $200 monthly subscription to those using OpenAI’s generative AI model for more technical work. “People will find that o1 pro mode is most useful for math, science, or programming problems,” Jason Wei, a research scientist at OpenAI, said during the video stream. WIRED has yet to test a ChatGPT Pro subscription firsthand to see how it handles these types of requests, though I look forward to testing the tool as part of helping readers better understand its strengths and limitations, of similar way to our previous work on ChatGPT Plus. , as well as its specific features, such as advanced voice mode and web browsing with artificial intelligence.
While ChatGPT Pro subscribers get what OpenAI calls “unlimited access” to the o1 model, the GPT-4o model, and the Advanced Voice Mode feature, the startup is clear that its terms of use still they apply 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 of the $200 subscription within the first two weeks of their purchase if they are not satisfied by going through OpenAI’s 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 released 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 for ChatGPT’s o1 settings in the future.
As the end of the year approaches, OpenAI is expected to continue releasing new AI features. Reports from The Verge suggest that these year-end releases may include OpenAI’s highly anticipated generative AI video model, Sora. Some of these upcoming announcements may also provide more insight into how Altman is thinking about AI agents, tools that can perform online tasks on your behalf, and the company’s focus for 2025.
