OpenAI explores higher-priced subscriptions for new AI models

OpenAI is reportedly considering introducing higher-priced subscription plans for its upcoming large language models (LLMs), including its reasoning-focused model, Strawberry, and a flagship model named Orion. Internal debates reported by The Information indicate that costs may start at $800 and go as high as $2,000 per month. 

These pricing concerns arise as ChatGPT has gained popularity, and the current subscription service ChatGPT Plus is priced at $20 per month. Recently, OpenAI revealed that the chatbot has gained over 200 million weekly active users, doubling from the previous fall.

Strawberry and Orion models target business and power users

The discussions on premium subscription plans come at a time when OpenAI is planning to release new models that will be targeted at business entities and power users. These include Strawberry, which seeks to have better reasoning abilities, and Orion, which is the latest model, and the two models are expected to have more specialized features. 

These features can be considered most useful for enterprise clients, researchers, and other professional users. As such, the pricing would signal the value creation, with potential subscription prices ranging from thousands of dollars per month and above, The Information revealed. 

OpenAI Japan CEO Tadao Nagasaki recently revealed that this GPT-Next model will be one hundred times stronger than GPT-4. According to Nagasaki, this has been made possible by changes in the architecture. Although the $20-a-month ChatGPT Plus has become popular, especially among casual users, the proposed premium subscription tier would target a different group of consumers.

Corporate adoption of OpenAI solutions surges

OpenAI’s pricing strategy talks occur at a time when large corporations are paying increasing attention to the AI market. As previously reported by Cryptopolitan, Apple and Nvidia are also considering investing in OpenAI in a new funding round that may put the company’s valuation at over $100 billion. 

OpenAI has also demonstrated growth in the number of signed-up corporate users. Currently, ChatGPT has over 1 million paid subscribers of the corporate versions, which shows the demand of organizations for the product. 

OpenAI’s corporate solutions, including ChatGPT Team and Enterprise, are suited for organizations of different sizes. Additionally, this year, OpenAI launched ChatGPT Edu for universities, which gives them access to AI tools. Despite not releasing numbers on how many new companies have subscribed to these services, OpenAI noted that it had more than 600,000 corporate customers in April of this year. 

Notably, the use of AI in business is not only prevalent in the United States. OpenAI’s chatbot has attracted many users from the international market, particularly business users from Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom.