OpenAI CEO Announces Major AI Pricing Strategy Shift
At its annual developer day on Sept. 29, 2026, OpenAI unveiled a bold pricing strategy for its latest model GPT-6.1 Sol, reducing costs to one-fifth of the previous version's price and over 90% cheaper for cached inputs. CEO Sam Altman emphasized making AI accessible at every price point while maintaining financial health, citing falling compute costs that allow OpenAI to cut prices without sacrificing margins. OpenAI reported a revenue run rate nearing $70 billion with 1.2 billion weekly ChatGPT users and maintained strong gross margins of nearly 43% in 2025. The company is also expanding its offerings, including new APIs for agentic workflows and cloud-based Codex tools aimed at developers. The strategy includes a three-part focus on models, building, and distribution, with Sol offering near-Astra capabilities but at much lower costs. However, the simultaneous removal of Astra raised questions about safety concerns that may affect future model availability.
Topics: AI developer event GPT-6.1 Sol OpenAI pricing strategy