OpenAI is launching its first subscription version of the artificial intelligence (AI) service ChatGPT—allowing users unlimited access to the service.
Key Details
- OpenAI has officially launched a premium version of its AI service ChatGPT for $20 a month called ChatGPT Plus.
- The subscription service will allow users unlimited access to ChatGPT, faster responses, and priority access for new improvements and priority access during “peak times.”
- The subscriptions are currently only being provided for U.S. users, but the company plans to roll out a waitlist for others.
Why it’s news
Just two months after its initial launch, ChatGPT is launching a subscription-based service to keep up with the growing demand for the AI chatbot.
After the service launched in November, it gained immediate popularity, with more than one million users using the bot in its first five days of service. The millions of users flocking to the site overwhelmed its servers leading to OpenAI discussing the possibility of different versions of the service.
Due to the overwhelming popularity of the site, there are certain blackout times when users cannot ask the chatbot questions, but with ChatGPT Plus, users have unlimited questions with no blackout times and priority usage during peak hours.
The subscription plan comes not long after OpenAI President and Chair Greg Brockman asked users on the company’s discord for ways to monetize ChatGPT.
Many ideas were discussed on the discord, including a subscription service to allow ChatGPT to continue running, making updates, and to ensure it will run for a long time.
Other ChatGPT updates
OpenAI recently released an AI detection tool to help teachers catch students using AI to complete assignments.
The service can be used to decipher whether a human or the AI bot did the writing, but OpenAI says that the text classifier isn’t always accurate—much like the ChatGPT service.
OpenAI says the new system isn’t foolproof, and it can be wrong sometimes, as it can be challenging to determine if a human or an AI system did the writing.