OpenAI aims to more than double ChatGPT's price over the next five years while projecting massive revenue increases, according to internal documents obtained by the New York Times. OpenAI's biggest cost is the computing power provided by Microsoft.
The documents, prepared for potential investors, show that OpenAI's revenues tripled year-on-year to $300 million in August. Monthly users jumped from around 100 million in March to around 350 million in June.
ChatGPT is driving this growth, especially its free version that doesn't require sign-up. OpenAI expects ChatGPT to bring in $2.7 billion this year, up from $700 million last year, according to the New York Times. About $1 billion of that should come from businesses. Over a million third-party developers also use OpenAI's technology.
OpenAI plans to raise ChatGPT prices and expects major revenue growth
OpenAI aims to more than double the price of ChatGPT in the next five years
Currently, around 10 million ChatGPT users pay $20 per month. OpenAI plans to increase this by $2 by the end of the year and potentially to $44 within five years. The company is targeting $100 billion in revenue by 2029.
Making ChatGPT more expensive doesn't mean fewer people can use it. OpenAI could also introduce new features for a premium, or make better models more widely available to paying customers. ChatGPT has become much more powerful since it's launch, particularly in its free version.
Microsoft's computing power is OpenAI's biggest cost. In this way, much of Microsoft's investment in OpenAI flows back to Microsoft. At the same time, by improving its cloud financials, Microsoft is boosting OpenAI's valuation and its own share price. Other large cloud providers such as Amazon are making similar strategic deals with AI startups such as Anthropic.
In the upcoming funding round, venture capital firm Thrive is set to lead the round with an investment of over $1 billion. Microsoft plans to add another $1 billion to its $13 billion investment to date.
The Wall Street Journal reports Apple has pulled out of talks, despite extensive collaboration with OpenAI on ChatGPT and Apple Intelligence.
