ChatGPT has exploded in popularity over the past few months, but the tough days of free, unrestricted access to an AI chat bot may soon be over – some users have reported that they’re seeing an upgrade plan to the expensive ChatGPT Professional version.
OpenAI, the chatbot maker, hasn’t made any official announcements about the paid ChatGPT class or its potential pricing yet. This means that pop-up messages about the Professional plan at a cost of $42 per month, are shared across Twitter (Opens in a new tab) And Reddit, speculation remains. We’ve reached out to OpenAI to confirm.
But rumor has it that the ChatGPT Professional class, for which OpenAI recently opened an official waiting list (Opens in a new tab) l, approaching. And if the message some users report seeing after clicking the new “Upgrade Plan” option is correct, it could have major ramifications for free users of its AI skills.
According to the letter, the $42 per month Professional plan will apparently give subscribers access to the service “even when demand is high,” including “faster response speed” and will give them “priority access to new features.” But the flip side is that the free plan promising that ChatGPT will be “available when demand is low” will likely restrict your access.
It is not yet clear how often or when this “low” demand might be. ChatGPT has regularly faltered on call for its AI skills, delivering a “ChatGPT in capacity now” message that would be familiar to casual users. But if the descriptions of the two ChatGPT plans are correct, it could mean denying service to free users during popular times of the day.
There will certainly be users and companies who can justify the $42 per month ChatGPT tier, with Bloomberg (Opens in a new tab) We recently reported that 30% of professionals have experienced an AI chatbot on the job. Despite this, several users on the service’s Discord server and across Reddit have expressed disappointment about the rumored pricing and potential repercussions of the paid tier for the free version. We will update this article when we hear back from OpenAI.
Analysis: The AI chatbot arms race begins
Not only is ChatGPT’s AI skills developing rapidly – its business model is also being rapidly formulated under the dual pressures of internal and external forces.
Microsoft announced today (Opens in a new tab) extending its multibillion-dollar investment in OpenAI to “accelerate AI breakthroughs” and said it plans to bring the service to cloud-based Azure soon, along with the likes of Outlook and Word. The New York Times (Opens in a new tab) I also recently reported that Google plans to unveil some of its new chatbot innovations at Google I/O, which starts on May 11th.
The report notes that Google will “demonstrate a version of its search engine with chatbot features this year,” which backs up an earlier quote from Demis Hassabis (CEO of Google-owned DeepMind) that it could launch a “dialogue agent” called Sparrow for private beta sometime. What in 2023.
The AI chatbot competition is so fierce that Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin were apparently drafted in to offer advice on how the search giant should approach ChatGPT. Although it’s still early days for the technology, with some alarms being raised about its ability to write malware and make discriminatory comments, Google’s concern about the impact on its traditional search business is understandable.
So far, Google has erred on the side of caution, with DeepMind citing the potential for “inaccurate or invented information” with chatbots, and the potential impact it could have on brand trust. But with ChatGPT Professional seemingly on the horizon, and Microsoft readying its AI skills for its services, it looks increasingly like 2023 will be the year of an increasing arms race for chatbots.