OpenAI opens waitlist for paid ChatGPT Professional

OpenAI has opened a waitlist for those wishing to use the paid version of the ChatGPT Professional chatbot, with a range of advantages.

Working on a professional version of ChatGPT; will offer higher limits & faster performance. If interested, please join our waitlist here: https://t.co/Eh87OViRie

— Greg Brockman (@gdb) January 11, 2023

According to company representatives, monetisation of the service is necessary for the long-term viability of the tool. The developers invited users to fill out a questionnaire about payment preferences, including an acceptable price.

The questionnaire also describes the features available in the paid version of ChatGPT. Among them:

• uninterrupted access (no blackout window);
• faster responses;
• unlimited number of messages (at least twice the usual daily limit).

Waitlist participants may be selected for a pilot version of ChatGPT Professional. The company noted that the programme is experimental and will not be widely available in the near term.

As of December 2022, more than 1 million users had used the AI-powered chatbot. Given the service’s popularity, the company spends considerable resources to maintain it.

OpenAI co-founder and chief executive Sam Altman stated that operating costs to support ChatGPT are “mind-boggling”. In his words, the average cost per chat is “a few cents”.

average is probably single-digits cents per chat; trying to figure out more precisely and also how we can optimize it

— Sam Altman (@sama) December 5, 2022

ChatGPT runs in the Microsoft Azure cloud. Given the number of users and requests, the support for the service could cost the company hundreds of thousands of dollars per day.

Earlier reports said Microsoft would invest $10 billion in OpenAI, with a subsequent buyout of 49% of the startup’s shares. Also in 2023 the tech giant plans to integrate a number of the company’s developments into its own products.

Back in December 2022, OpenAI introduced ChatGPT.

In the same month, a professor at an American university accused a female student of fabricating a homework assignment with the help of a chatbot.

In January 2023, New York City’s public schools banned the use of ChatGPT on the institution’s devices and on the internal Wi-Fi network.

A few days later, similar restrictions were imposed by Australia’s largest universities.

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