OpenAI Is Taking the “Crack Cocaine” Approach to Pricing
TL;DR
Futurism frames OpenAI’s pricing as a hard pivot: broad, cheap ChatGPT access first, then a possible move toward usage-based billing once users rely on the tools. The article cites financial figures claiming OpenAI’s net loss rose from $5 billion in 2024 to $39 billion in 2025, while noting that part of the loss may involve accounting effects. Sam Altman has suggested AI could be sold like electricity or water, on a meter. That would shift more cost onto power users instead of casual subscribers.
Nauti's Take
The real risk isn't the $20 subscription. It's workflows quietly built on flat-rate economics.
If you're wiring agents, Codex runs, or internal tools without cost controls, you're building on a subsidy, not a pricing model.
Briefingshow
The fight exposes the core illusion behind many AI subscriptions: unlimited intelligence for one flat fee. If providers move toward metered pricing, workflows, budgets, and product economics change fast. Agents, automations, and long-running tasks become not only technical decisions but financial liabilities.
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