ChatGPT’s Paid-subscribers surge to 2 crore, company valuation reaches $300 billion

OpenAI’s ChatGPT has seen a sharp rise in its paid subscriber base, climbing to over 20 million from 15.5 million in the past quarter, according to a report by The Information. The 30% increase in users has propelled an estimated monthly revenue boost from $333 million to $415 million.

The surge comes on the heels of OpenAI’s record-breaking $40 billion funding round, led by SoftBank, which pushed the company’s valuation to $300 billion. OpenAI also disclosed that more than 500 million people now use ChatGPT on a weekly basis.

The AI company is projecting substantial revenue growth, expecting to more than triple its earnings from $3.7 billion in 2024 to $12.7 billion in 2025. Bloomberg previously reported that OpenAI anticipates generating $29.4 billion in 2026.

Growing Demand and Operational Challenges

The rising number of paid subscribers highlights ChatGPT’s increasing popularity across various user bases. However, OpenAI continues to face high operational costs, including expenses related to AI chips, data centers, and talent acquisition.

Adding to its feature set, OpenAI on Tuesday introduced GPT-4o’s native image generation, allowing users to upload and edit images. The tool, which will soon be available across all ChatGPT tiers, has gained traction online. A recent viral trend saw users leveraging ChatGPT to create images in the style of Japan’s Studio Ghibli, further boosting engagement with the platform.

As demand for image generation soared, CEO Sam Altman implemented a rate limit, citing strain on OpenAI’s computing infrastructure. “Our GPUs are melting,” Altman remarked, referencing the surge in image-related prompts.

Subscription Plans and Features

ChatGPT currently offers two subscription tiers: Free and Pro. The Free tier provides access to GPT-3.5 with basic conversational features, while the Pro plan, priced at $20 per month, unlocks GPT-4 with enhanced capabilities such as improved reasoning, faster response times, and multimodal tools for text and image generation.

Pro users also benefit from higher usage limits, priority access during peak periods, and the ability to customize AI models to suit their needs.