The intelligence embedded in ChatGPT may be artificial, but the creators of the wildly popular chat bot are hoping it can do something humans strive for all the time: make money.
OpenAI, the company that created ChatGPT, will soon roll out a paid version of the service in a pilot project, where people willing to spend $20 US a month will get a premium version of the product.
Starting soon, customers in the U.S. who sign up for the program will get preferential access to the service, even at peak times of demand, when many users are currently locked out.
They’ll also get faster response times for their queries, and priority access to new features and improvements as they roll out.
The subscription service will only be available to U.S. users for the time being.
Wildly popular service has its critics
The service has taken the world by storm since its launch in November, becoming the first viral mass-market artificial intelligence tool.
But ChatGPT is not without its critics. Detractors have already waved red flags about the service’s potential to lead to job losses, as well as being a haven for plagiarism and cheating.
In a blog post, the California-based company says it is also exploring other options for its business, including lower-cost plans, communal subscriptions for corporate clients and data packs.
But the free version is here to stay, they say.
“We love our free users and will continue to offer free access to ChatGPT,” the company said. “By offering this subscription pricing, we will be able to help support free access availability to as many people as possible.”
