(Dec 11): OpenAI chief financial officer Sarah Friar said it is reasonable to eventually charge business users thousands of dollars a month for its artificial intelligence (AI) software to better reflect the value the technology provides to companies. 

“I want the door open to everything,” Friar said in an interview, when asked about a recent report that the company has discussed a US$2,000 (RM8,854) monthly subscription for its AI products. “If it is helping me move about the world with literally a PhD-level assistant for anything that I am doing, there are certainly cases where that would make all the sense in the world.”

The ChatGPT maker currently offers consumers a US$20-per-month subscription tier as well as a newly launched US$200 monthly option for access to its most powerful new models. OpenAI also charges businesses a flat rate per seat, meaning per user at the organisation. 

In the future, however, Friar said OpenAI could charge customers based on the value they get from using the startup’s products, particularly in the enterprise setting — whether it be lawyers who turn to AI to have a “paralegal at their fingertips”, or academics who rely on it for a research breakthrough. That could help offset the tremendous costs of developing AI systems.

The possible shift to a value-based pricing model for its software comes as OpenAI is nearing the launch of an AI agent that can use a computer to perform complicated tasks like booking travel or conducting research. Such tools could prove to be more economically valuable to companies in part by automating roles. 

“How might you have had to finance that otherwise? Would you have had to go out and hire more people?” Friar said. “How do you think about the replacement cost to some degree, and then how do we create a fair pricing for that?”

Uploaded by Tham Yek Lee