In November, OpenAI wowed the world when it was released an experimental online chatbot called ChatGPT who could answer questions, write poetry, and comment on almost any subject that came his way.
Now the tiny San Francisco startup has announced that it will soon be offering a commercial version of the chatbot ChatGPT Plus for $20 a month.
Subscribers get 24/7 access to the chatbot, faster responses, and access to new features, OpenAI said. The company will continue to offer a free version of the service, available only to a limited number of people during peak hours.
ChatGPT is the most prominent example of a new breed of chatbot that has captivated both the business community and the general public in recent weeks. Google, Meta, and various startups have built similar systems that are just beginning to appear on the internet.
These chatbots are the result of more than a decade of research and represent a fundamental changes in the way computer software is created and used. You are ready to reinvent yourself Internet search engines such as Google Search and Bingtalking digital assistants like Alexa and Siri and email programs like Gmail and Outlook.
You can also generate digital text that can be reused in almost any context. Students are already using ChatGPT to write term papers. Businesses generate email messages and other marketing materials.
But the technology comes with caveats. Because the skills of these chatbots are created by analyzing massive amounts of digital text that is put on the Internet, they cannot distinguish between fact and fiction and produce text that is biased against women and people of color.
Initially, ChatGPT Plus will only be available to users in the United States. OpenAI has established a waiting list for the service and will begin inviting people on the list to participate in the coming weeks.
The company said it will soon be expanding the service to other countries.
Chatbots like ChatGPT are unusually expensive to run. In a recent tweet, OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman said the company spent “single-digit cents” to provide every chat on the service. That can add up quickly considering that over a million people used ChatGPT in the first few days of its release.
The new subscription service is expected to recoup some of that money while the company continues to offer a free version of the chatbot, said Hannah Wong-Silva, a spokeswoman for OpenAI.
