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The artificial intelligence research laboratory, OpenAI, has reportedly begun rolling out a premium version of its popular AI chatbot, "ChatGPT Professional."
The premium edition will offer additional features with less unpredictable availability, better response times, and priority access for a $42 monthly membership, according to a LinkedIn post on Saturday by Linas Beliunas, a financial technology specialist.
"That was quick! OpenAI has reportedly started rolling out a premium version of its viral ChatGPT," he wrote.
"While [the] free version is still available, for $42/month, you will get expanded capabilities like less finicky availability, faster response speeds, and priority access to new features."
Given that the cost of running the chatbot alone, according to OpenAI, is over $100,000 per day. As per Beliunas, this adds to more than $3 million each month, which makes the $42 monthly subscription "actually a steal."
Money printing machine for OpenAI?
According to SimilarWeb, ChatGPT has 75 million unique monthly users.
So, if only 10% of these users choose to subscribe to the premium service, OpenAI could possibly make $3.46 billion in revenue in the first year.
This would generate an astounding $2 billion in profit at a 60 percent profit margin, yearly.
"The crazy part? This will be a money printing machine for OpenAI," said Beliunas.
Linas Beliunas/ LinkedIn
The enhanced but "experimental" features of ChatGPT and the cost of the plan can change based on the individual requirements of the user and the agreements made with OpenAI.
However, it is claimed to be not accessible to the general public because it is dependent on selection; nonetheless, the business provided a waitlist link on its Discord server.
Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, recently stated that he "wouldn't want to make a competent prediction about when" but that the company is working on releasing a video model shortly.
Rise of ChatGPT makes Google sleepless
A "code red" has purportedly been issued by Google management in response to ChatGPT AI's growing popularity, according to some news reports.
Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google and its parent company, Alphabet, has attended several meetings regarding Google's AI strategy against the rise of ChatGPT.
He has instructed numerous groups within the company to refocus their efforts on addressing the threat that ChatGPT poses to its search-engine business, according to an internal memo and audio recording examined by The Times.
Google's decision to expand its AI product line comes as experts and Google workers disagree about whether ChatGPT, which is managed by former Y Combinator president Sam Altman, has the ability to displace the search engine and harm Google's ad-revenue business model.
By gathering data from millions of websites, ChatGPT, which garnered over 1 million users five days after its public debut in November, can provide unique replies to queries in a conversational, humanlike manner.
The chatbot has been tasked by users with writing college essays, giving programming assistance, and even acting as a therapist and has thus also landed in many controversies.
Meanwhile, the popularity of ChatGPT's premium version may turn out to be a significant source of income for OpenAI, possibly even outpacing the combined revenues of other large digital firms like Uber, Spotify, Twitter, and Airbnb.
This emphasizes the value of OpenAI's technology, which is supported by Microsoft, making it one of "the best investment in tech ever," as per Beliunas.
