Last week, OpenAI has introduced its latest large-scale language model, GPT-4o. The new model brings a number of improvements, including:
- Faster effect
- Multimodal capabilities for text, voice and vision
- New voice mode
- Ability to upload screenshots and documents for information
GPT-4o is a significant improvement over its predecessor. And probably the biggest leap in improvement from one OpenAI model to another ever made.
The highest revenue the app has ever recorded in a single day
Surprisingly, the company has made this model available as part of its free subscription. But with a flaw. It’s not free on smartphones. In short, mobile users should upgrade to ChatGPT Plus to test GPT-4o.
And according to AppFigures figuresthis plan worked.
On the day GPT-4o was released, ChatGPT’s mobile revenue grew by 22%. This is the highest traffic the app has ever recorded in a single day. And that was just the beginning.
So why do people pay for GPT-4o when it’s available for free?
According to AppFigures, as of Tuesday, daily app revenue has doubled compared to the May average. They go from about $491,000 a day to almost… $900,000 a day. These figures are obtained after OpenAI has paid its invoices to the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store.
In the week following the launch of the new language model, OpenAI recorded a total of… $4.2 million in app revenue, with the majority coming from the App Store.
So why do people pay for GPT-4o when it’s available for free? Voice input is probably one of the most important factors. OpenAI has limited voice typing to the ChatGPT version of the app. On the desktop version, users can only interact with the AI through texts.
Willing to pay
Access to offline chat history is another advantage, as are faster response times and better integration of the mobile version.
It’s also entirely possible, as AppFigures shows, that OpenAI makes more money from its website than from its app. Which would explain why it encourages users to go there.
Whatever the reason, the past week for OpenAI shows that not only are consumers extremely interested in the latest developments in AI, but they’re also willing to pay to be among the first to have access to it.