ChatGPT Pro from OpenAI Costs $200 a Month

People are questioning who would pay $200 a month for ChatGPT Pro, but consider this: the global management consulting industry was valued at approximately $1 trillion USD in 2023. Within that, the IT consulting sector alone was valued at around $104.88 billion USD in 2023 and is projected to grow to $114.01 billion USD in 2024, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.7%. With this in mind, I asked the o1 model the following:

Given: The subscription price for unlimited access to the new advanced reasoning model o1 is $200 a month. Make the argument for and against a typical mid to large size company bearing the $200 a month cost for unlimited o1 access.?The regular price of $20 a month, gives access to o1 but it's usage is limited.?

o1's response in full is below:

" Argument for Bearing the $200 per Month Cost:

1. Substantially Reduced Labour Costs:

For a mid to large organization, human-based consulting—whether external consultants or internal subject matter experts—can be extremely expensive. Even a modest consulting engagement can cost thousands of dollars per month. By opting for unlimited access to an advanced reasoning model like o1 at $200 per month, the company can replace or at least significantly reduce some of these ongoing consulting or contract research expenses. Over time, $200 is a negligible fraction of a single consultant’s hourly billing rate, which can easily exceed $200 per hour.

2. Scalability and Availability of Expertise:

A single consultant has limited working hours and area-specific expertise. In contrast, unlimited access to a robust AI model ensures immediate, round-the-clock availability. The model doesn’t need breaks, sleep, or overtime pay, and it can tackle multiple queries simultaneously. For a mid-sized or larger enterprise that might have numerous teams and departments needing guidance, this continuous availability ensures the entire organization has a steady “expert” resource, effectively scaling specialized knowledge throughout the company.

3. Faster Turnaround for Decision-Making:

With near-instant responses to complex queries, companies can drastically cut down on decision-making bottlenecks. Instead of waiting for consultants to prepare reports over days or weeks, stakeholders can get immediate reasoning support from the AI. This speed can translate into more agile strategic moves, quicker adaptations to market changes, and faster product development cycles—all of which can more than justify the $200 monthly fee.

4. Continuous Improvement and Adaptation:

Advanced AI reasoning models are often updated regularly. By maintaining a subscription, a company continuously benefits from the latest improvements, better models, more refined reasoning capabilities, and expanded knowledge bases. This ongoing enhancement ensures that the value proposition of the $200 monthly fee grows over time.

5. Empowerment of Internal Staff:

Giving employees unlimited access to a powerful AI model democratizes expertise within the organization. Junior staff can quickly level up their understanding of complex tasks, senior engineers can offload routine conceptual checks, and executives can evaluate strategic options. The improved self-sufficiency drives productivity and innovation across departments.

Argument Against Bearing the $200 per Month Cost:

1. Minimal Incremental Benefit Over the Limited Plan:

If the standard $20 monthly plan already covers the majority of a company’s core usage—perhaps the firm only needs occasional queries rather than ongoing, high-volume reasoning support—then the extra $180 may not yield proportional value. Some organizations might find that their consultants provide more specialized, contextual insight that a generalized model cannot match, making unlimited AI access unnecessary.

2. Risk of Over-reliance on AI:

By having an always-available reasoning model, there is a risk that the organization could become too dependent on it, potentially sidelining critical human judgment and strategic thinking. If the company relies on AI outputs that lack nuanced, domain-specific understanding, it may lead to flawed decision-making. In this scenario, the added $200 monthly cost doesn’t just become unnecessary—it may even be detrimental if it reduces investment in human expertise.

3. Underutilization Leading to Wasted Spend:

The unlimited tier makes sense only if the company uses it frequently enough to justify the cost. Many mid-sized companies may not need continuous support from the model. If usage is sporadic or if the majority of queries are relatively simple and can be addressed using the lower-tier plan, the $200 premium becomes a recurring expense that could be better allocated elsewhere.

4. Security and Compliance Considerations:

Some organizations are cautious about feeding proprietary or sensitive data into an AI model. If strict compliance or intellectual property considerations limit how often and how deeply the model can be used, unlimited access may go underused. If the company can’t or won’t leverage the model fully due to policy restrictions, the upgrade cost is hard to justify.

Conclusion:

For a typical mid to large company, the decision to pay $200 a month for unlimited access to an advanced AI model like o1 hinges on usage intensity, strategic reliance on AI-driven insights, cost comparisons with human consultants, and internal policies around data usage. If the firm regularly needs rapid, high-level reasoning at scale and can reduce human consultancy expenses, $200 per month is a very modest cost. Conversely, if usage is infrequent, security constraints are strict, or internal domain experts already suffice, the limited $20 monthly tier may be enough. "

Key Take-Away

But wait— isn’t this exactly the kind of summarization you’d expect from a consultant? It provides the key insights needed to make informed business decisions. Moreover, with o1 and a ChatGPT Pro subscription, you can reflect on the response and question the findings as needed. Further, you can easily add additional context specific to your company to tailor the analysis even further.

As I am writing this article, I am also reading the following:

McKinsey & Company has been implicated in a bribery scandal involving its South African subsidiary, McKinsey Africa, which engaged in corrupt practices to secure consulting contracts with state-owned enterprises. Between 2012 and 2016, McKinsey Africa conspired to violate the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by paying bribes to officials at Transnet SOC and Eskom Holdings SOC, South Africa’s primary rail and energy companies, respectively. These bribes facilitated access to confidential information, enabling McKinsey to obtain lucrative contracts that generated approximately $85 million in profits.

Are we likely to see these kinds of headlines about an AI model in the near future? I am doubtful.