OpenAI reveals the pricing plans for its API — and it ain’t cheap

OpenAI has revealed the projected pricing plans for its API, which lets people use the company’s vaunted AI tools on “virtually any English language task.” But you’re gonna need money to burn if you wanna try it out.

The API gives users access to GPT-3, OpenAI’s headline-grabbing text generator. The company says developers can apply it “to any language task — semantic search, summarization, sentiment analysis, content generation, translation, and more — with only a few examples or by specifying your task in English.”

The product was initially launched in a free, two-month private beta on July 11. But from October 1, users of the beta version will have to choose between four different pricing plans to access the system. A researcher called Gwern Branwen posted the details on Reddit

1. Explore: Free tier: 100K tokens or a three-month trial, whichever you use up first.
2. Create: $100 per month for 2M tokens, plus 8 cents for every additional 1k tokens.
3. Build: $400 per month for 10M tokens, plus 6 cents for every additional 1k tokens.
4. Scale: Contact OpenAI for pricing.

According to Branwen, 2 million tokens is roughly equivalent to 3,000 pages of text. For reference, the complete works of Shakespeare contain roughly 900,000 words.

The 💜 of EU tech

The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!

[Read: We asked 3 CEOs what tech trends will dominate post-COVID]

The costs are subject to change, but the preliminary pricing will put the model out of reach for most hobbyists. However, they will get three months to experiment with the system for free.

Jay Alammar, a machine learning instructor and VC, noted that OpenAI’s lead in the field has given it some room to charge what it likes.

“Competitors will come (with free tiers and lower prices) eventually,” he said on Twitter.

HT – Gwern Branwen

So you’re interested in AI? Then join our online event, TNW2020, where you’ll hear how artificial intelligence is transforming industries and businesses.