200 dollars per month, or 229 euros per month in France. Here is the tidy sum that OpenAI now asks its users to access ChatGPT Pro, the most complete version of its tool. At this price, subscribers gain access to a more powerful version of its latest AI model, o1, as well as an improved version of the freshly introduced Sora video generation model. All without a ceiling on the number of uses.
The new subscription, ten times more expensive than the historic ChatGPT Plus, was presented on the occasion of “shipmas”, a sort of Advent calendar of new OpenAI announcements, started on December 6 and spread over 12 days. ChatGPT Pro could therefore receive other additions in the coming days. But will the offer be enough to convince users to open their checkbook? And above all, can it become a cornerstone of the future economic model of the start-up, set to lose more than 5 billion dollars in the year 2024?
300 million users
« A price of 200 dollars is not completely crazy. OpenAI targets very advanced users, for whom ChatGPT has become vital to the activity. We are talking about a clientele of “prosumers”, between professionals and “consumers” [consommateurs, en anglais] : these are self-employed people, or employees who will pass the subscription into expense reports », Analyzes Michael Mansard, director of strategy at the Subscribed Institute, a think tank on the subscription model.
It remains to be seen what percentage of its OpenAI users will succeed in converting. Because to find subscriptions for the general public for more than 200 euros, you have to look at offers linked to access to a good – for example car leasing -, or at memberships to luxury clubs. .
Sam Altman, all-powerful at the head of OpenAI
At the beginning of December, during an event organized by the New York Timesboss Sam Altman announced that ChatGPT had just passed the 300 million weekly users mark. Three months earlier, The Information revealed that 11 million of these users were subscribed to ChatGPT Plus, the historic paid offer, at 20 euros per month. “ Converting around 4% of their users is quite a good performance », Comments the expert.
Questionable premium services
To convince these 4% of users to pay ten times more, the company is offering a rather weak argument for the moment. The advantage of the o1 pro model over other versions remains very unclear. OpenAI explains that it allows “ obtain optimal answers to the most complex questions thanks to enhanced calculation capabilities » and breaks out several performance graphs that show a marginal advantage at best. The company emphasizes improvements in coding tasks and math problem solving. But for what concrete applications?
As for the business interest in access to the Sora video model, it is even more vague. The Pro subscription allows you to generate 20-second videos, compared to only 5 seconds for the Plus subscription, all with better image resolution. But it's still much less than the 60 seconds announced when the tool was presented.
Above all, the quality of the content generated disappoints the first users: the AI struggles to respect certain physical laws, as highlighted Axios. We can see skiers sliding on the snow… towards the top of the mountain. “ My problem? I haven't released anything usable with Sora. We have the impression, even though Sora has been available for internal testing since the beginning of 2024, that the service is not ready », concludes the media test specialized in Numerama. In other words, it is difficult to see industrial applications for the video model, or to see an industrial argument for subscription. The icing on the cake is that Sora is not currently available in Europe and the United Kingdom.
OpenAI stuck in a vicious circle?
The bulk of the value of ChatGPT Pro therefore lies in the word “unlimited”. For 229 euros, OpenAI breaks the ceiling for the use of its AI, whether o1, Sora, or advanced voice mode. In turn, the company calls into question the price of 20 euros per month widespread in the industry, which it itself determined, on the basis of the SaaS (software-as-a-service) model which made the golden days of the software industry.
It thus reveals a central problem in the economic model of AI companies: currently, the cost of each additional request is not negligible. Above all, it is higher on the most efficient models, and even higher on the generation of images and videos.
In other words, each ChatGPT user will offer a different margin to OpenAI depending on their volume of use. Because of this particularity, Github, the company behind the first AI code assistance tool Copilot, was accused in 2023 of making dumping with its offer of 20 euros per month, which its detractors accused it of making at a loss.
Artificial intelligence: small models to the rescue of a sector in full doubt
As Michael Mansard explains, the emergence of generative AI calls into question the SaaS model. And moreover, the industry is testing new models of payment for production, payment for request or even payment for problem resolution, instead of payment for access to the service. But for now, OpenAI insists on this SaaS model, hoping that subscribers at 229 euros per month do not eat into its margins too much.
Soon advertising in ChatGPT?
Whatever the success of the Pro offer, it is difficult to imagine it solving the problems of the start-up's economic model alone. Even if OpenAI displays an exceptional growth trajectory in its turnover, the training of AI and its payroll weigh very heavily on its accounts. Manager Sam Altman makes no secret of it: the company must find new revenue channels. And this is why it will become a for-profit company.
« JI thought they would first seek revenue from free users, wonders Michael Mansard. For example, on searches related to product recommendations in ChatGPT, it is easy to imagine advertising or affiliation models like Google does. It would have made sense to launch this before Christmas, especially with the support of studies that show that some consumers used ChatGPT to find the best Black Friday deals »
Precisely, thanks to a large wave of departures, the start-up has acquired new executives, including Shivakumar Venkataraman, the former leader of the Google search engine monetization team, as well as a new financial director, Sarah Friar. Questioned by the Financial Timesthe latter conceded that the company “ explored different other revenue channels » while specifying that this would not be immediate in terms of advertising.
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