Last month, OpenAI launched the new ChatGPT Pro plan. Although it allows unlimited use of the exclusive o1 pro mode, the monthly fee is as high as $200, which is a full 10 times the basic ChatGPT Plus at $20. Many people would find this monthly fee quite high, but in fact, for professional use, it may still be cheap.
Earlier, OpenAI’s CEO complained on social media that ChatGPT Pro is currently losing money because user usage is way too crazy. While he didn’t say how they’d handle it going forward, saying something like that most likely means a ChatGPT Pro price hike could be coming later, and the regular ChatGPT Plus has a high chance of following suit.
OpenAI CEO complains that ChatGPT Pro is losing money, as users are using it like crazy.
According to earlier reports from foreign media, the $20 per month ChatGPT Plus plan has already turned a profit for OpenAI, so logically the newly introduced plan should also be profitable—but OpenAI seems to have underestimated the usage of ChatGPT Pro subscribers.
CEO Sam Altman complained earlier on social media: “This is truly a crazy situation: we’re currently losing money on the OpenAI Pro subscription! Users are using it more often than we expected.” He later added in a comment that he had set that price himself, thinking it would allow OpenAI to make money.
insane thing: we are currently losing money on openai pro subscriptions!
people use it much more than we expected.
— Sam Altman (@sama) January 6, 2025
It is clear that for professional users, the actual value of ChatGPT Pro far exceeds the monthly fee.
Previously, OpenAI shared that o1 pro mode outperformed the o1 model in various tests, especially in AIME 2024 math ability:
o1 pro mode’s reliability is even more impressive—in the 4/4 test, where a problem is only considered solved if all four attempts are correct, it got all four right every time. Whether it’s coding or answering PhD-level science questions, its scores are far higher than o1’s.
Some ChatGPT Pro users also commented below, saying they now use o1 pro nonstop. Compared to other models, o1 pro is highly reliable, and Sora still has no generation limit, making it very cheap. Some also subtly mocked OpenAI, saying, “Thought you were a non-profit organization.”
Following this complaint from Sam Altman, although he didn’t say what OpenAI would do next, many are speculating that ChatGPT Pro might increase in price. If you subscribe to Pro, you might want to be mentally prepared.
Last year there were also reports that ChatGPT Plus would see a price increase, but compared to Pro, the increase for Plus wouldn’t be too much—previously it was said to be around 2 USD more.
Although OpenAI has raised about $20 billion since its founding, it has not yet become profitable. According to recent reports, the company’s revenue last year was estimated at $3.7 billion, with losses of about $5 billion.
The main sources of losses were employee salaries, office rent, and AI training infrastructure. ChatGPT even at one point caused OpenAI to lose about $700,000 per day.
OpenAI has also admitted the needMore capital than expected.In order to achieve profitability, it may consider raising prices across various subscription tiers.By 2029，OpenAI expects revenue to reach $100 billion.
Source: KOCPC Chinese