OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently revealed that the company is losing money on its $200-per-month ChatGPT Pro subscription plan because users are utilizing it far more than expected.
“I personally set the price,” Altman shared in a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter). “I thought it would make us some money.”
Launched late last year, ChatGPT Pro offers access to an enhanced version of OpenAI’s o1 “reasoning” AI model, known as o1 Pro Mode. It also removes usage limits on other OpenAI tools, such as the Sora video generator.
Despite raising around $20 billion since its founding, OpenAI has yet to turn a profit. The company reportedly incurred $5 billion in losses last year against $3.7 billion in revenue. The high costs of running ChatGPT, which once burned through $700,000 daily, as well as expenses like staffing, office space, and infrastructure for training AI, are major factors behind these losses.
OpenAI has admitted it needs more funding than initially anticipated and is exploring a corporate restructuring to attract new investors. To improve profitability, the company may increase subscription prices across its plans. OpenAI has set an ambitious revenue target of $100 billion by 2029, a figure matching Nestlé’s current annual sales.
