OpenAI had plenty to say about its product(s) at its DevDay event last night, but one of those things was the introduction of a new Pro 500 subscription tier. For access to the company’s best (and fastest) models, you’ll have to hand over $500. A month. There are bound to be users who are willing to part with R8,200 monthly, but we’re unlikely to be among them.
At the same time, the previous highest-tier Pro subscription is seeing its access lowered compared to what Plus subscribers get. Previously, ChatGPT Pro users (who pay R1,840/m) using Codex or Work were receiving twenty times the access available to users on the R400/m Plus plan. That’s being halved. At least it’s not happening immediately. The changes will come into effect for paying users from 30 October this year.
The cost of OpenAI
It’s quite a jump from Plus to Pro to what OpenAI calls its Pro 500. The reason why you’re paying more than four times as much as for Pro is something the company calls ‘Ultrafast’. It’s got the word ‘ultra’ in the name, so it’s worth it. Hey, it works for smartphone makers. Ultrafast promises “up to 8 times faster token generation.” Pro 500 subscribers will also net “25 times the usage of Plus,” or just a little over what ChatGPT Pro subscribers were getting before they were nerfed.
Another change to the subscription setup is that GPT-6 Pro messages in OpenAI’s Chat function are also being halved. Previously, subscribers were getting 200 messages a week. They’ll soon only have 100 to play with. The company reckons its systems will justify these downgrades, thanks to it becoming “more capable and efficient”.
“Our commitment is that, over time, your subscription will continue to help you get more work done with an increasing level of quality.” That part of the statement, sent to existing ChatGPT Pro subscribers by OpenAI, sounds awfully weaselly. You can pick out the hedging — ‘commitment,’ ‘over time,’ and ‘increasing level’ all suggest that these aspects don’t exist yet.
But it’s all in service of shifting users over to that $500/m subscription plan. Anyone who chooses to stay on OpenAI’s Pro tier will gain access to Dots, at least. These are vaguely anthropomorphic agents designed to seem non-threatening, so more ChatGPT users start playing with them.
