ChatGPT, the popular artificial intelligence model developed by OpenAI, launches a paid version. The company has announced ChatGPT Pluswhich consists of a $20 monthly subscription in exchange for three important advantages compared to the free version which, remember, is accessible to any user, but has several limitations.
One of the main advantages of ChatGPT Plus is general access to AI even at “peak hours”. That is, at those times when users have to wait to access the chatbot due to high demand. The company also offers paying subscribers “faster response times”. And finally, priority access to new functions and improvements of the aforementioned model.
We assume, therefore, that those who decide to pay $20 per month for the use of ChatGPT will be the first to test GPT-4, the OpenAI AI on which the future version of the chatbot will be based and which includes relevant improvements compared to GPT-3. Among them, more precise and current answers.
ChatGPT Plus, yes, is only available in the United States. In addition, for the moment, only those users who signed up for the waiting list that OpenAI opened a few weeks ago in its Discord community, will receive an invitation to subscribe to the new plan. The company, however, claims that will expand access to payment chatbot in other countries and regions soon. They assure, on the other hand, that they are “actively exploring options for lower cost plans, business plans and data packages for greater availability.”
ChatGPT will continue to have a free version
OpenAI states on its website that ChatGPT will continue to be free and it will be available for those users who want to test the AI. The subscription model, therefore, is a way of being able to obtain income to keep the service active and that it continues to be operational for anyone.
Until now, in fact, ChatGPT did not have any method to generate profit. The web portal does not have advertising and there are no additional paid functions, as we do see on other platforms. AI maintenance costs, however, are very high. They even exceed $100,000 a day and $3 million a month, according to Tom Goldsteinresearcher and professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Maryland.
OpenAI is also looking for other ways to earn income to continue advancing in the development of new artificial intelligence models. The company, for example, has partnered with Microsoft, who has invested $10 billion to, among other things, integrate ChatGPT and GPT-3 into some of the company’s services. The chatbot is expected to be available soon on Bing, as well as platforms like Outlook or PowerPoint.
