OpenAI this morning has launched ChatGPT Pro, a $200 monthly subscription to its flagship chatbot. This release is the first of many expected over the next 12 days, as the San Francisco-based startup has scheduled a number of announcements that will be made starting today.
Everything from the $20 monthly OpenAI subscription is included at this price level, plus much greater access to the GPT-4o and o1 AI models. WITH ChatGPT Pro subscription— which will cost $2,400 for the entire year — users can also exploit an exclusive OpenAI model called o1 pro mode, which has more computing power to process responses.
“Power users of ChatGPT are really using it a lot right now and they want more computing power than $20 can buy,” CEO Sam Altman said during video transmission announcing a novel premium level. While the high price may come as a shock to many consumers, this subscription is aimed at highly engaged users who want near-unlimited access, and researchers who potentially want to experiment with using ChatGPT for more convoluted, intensive tasks.
No price changes have been announced for OpenAI’s remaining subscription plans, and the free option remains available. The startup’s first consumer chatbot subscription option, called ChatGPT Plus, was originally launched last February for $20 per month and remains at that price for now. At the Plus tier, users unlock most of ChatGPT’s novel features and generative AI models. These subscribers are also not as rate-limited by OpenAI as free users are. The number of ChatGPT requests users can send per day, or the amount of time they can spend babbling on the best ChatGPT voice interface, depends on the subscription level.
The company is targeting its novel $200 monthly subscription at people using OpenAI’s generative artificial intelligence model for more technical work. “People will find o1 pro mode most useful for difficult math, science or programming problems,” OpenAI research scientist Jason Wei said during the video. WIRED has not yet tested the ChatGPT Pro subscription first-hand to see how it handles these types of requests, although I look forward to testing the tool to lend a hand readers better understand its strengths and limitations, similar to our previous work on ChatGPT Plus, as well as its specific features such as advanced voice mode and AI web browsing.
Even though ChatGPT Pro subscribers get what OpenAI calls “unlimited access” to the o1 models, GPT-4o model and advanced voice mode features, the startup is clear that terms of use still apply. Therefore, actions such as sharing an account with multiple people or using the Pro plan to power your own service are not allowed and may ban your account. Users can request a refund of their $200 subscription within the first two weeks of purchase if they are dissatisfied by going to the OpenAI website online help center.
In addition to ChatGPT Pro, OpenAI announced that the o1 model, which focuses on “inference” capabilities and multi-step processing of user input, is no longer available in confined preview. According to the startup, this fully released o1 model responds to questions faster, can now accept images as input, and makes fewer errors. The startup plans to add web browsing and file transfer features to the o1 ChatGPT setting in the future.
OpenAI is expected to continue introducing novel AI features as the end of the year approaches. Report from The Verge suggests that these year-end releases may include OpenAI’s long-awaited generative artificial intelligence video model, Sora. It’s possible that some of these upcoming announcements could also provide more insight into how Altman is thinking about AI agents, tools that can potentially perform online tasks on your behalf, and what the company is focusing on in 2025.