OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the company is currently losing money because its $200-per-month ChatGPT Pro plan has more users than expected.
In a series of posts about X, Altman wrote, “The price was set by me personally and I thought I could make some profit.”
OpenAI released ChatGPT Pro late last year. In addition to granting access to o1 Pro mode, an upgraded version of OpenAI's o1 “inference” AI model, ChatGPT Pro lifts rate limits on several of the company's other tools, including the Sora video generator .
Although OpenAI has raised about $20 billion since its founding, it is not profitable. The company reportedly expected a loss of about $5 billion on last year's sales of $3.7 billion.
This is due to expenses such as staffing, office rent, and AI training infrastructure. ChatGPT was at one point costing OpenAI an estimated $700,000 per day.
OpenAI recently admitted it needs “more capital than expected” as it prepares to restructure its company to attract new investment. To achieve profitability, OpenAI is said to be considering increasing prices for various subscription tiers. The company optimistically predicts its revenue will reach $100 billion in 2029, comparable to Nestlé's current annual sales.