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OpenAI has opened the doors for application developers to integrate ChatGPT by releasing an API that makes it easier for third-party websites and applications to integrate a chatbot into their products.
The advantage of the ChatGPT API is its low price. AI-powered chatbots typically require data centers to run, forcing the provider to significantly increase spending on hardware and electricity to serve millions of users. But through software improvements, OpenAI has been able to reduce ChatGPT’s operating costs by 90%.
OpenAI plans — which has also received billions of dollars in funding from Microsoft — to offer the service at a small price to developers.
Specifically, OpenAI plans to charge API users $0.002 for every 1,000 characters or 750 words generated by ChatGPT. The cost is 10 times cheaper than using their “Davinci” GPT-3.5 big language model API, which can also run chatbot services.
However, third-party applications that adopt ChatGPT integration could end up paying OpenAI tens of thousands of dollars a day. If 10 million queries are made through the API, and ChatGPT generates a 750-word response, that could result in a $20,000 bill.
As a result, applications and websites that have decided to adopt ChatGPT can give it a try cost support through Paid subscriptions or via targeted advertising schemes. Snapchat is among the first to adopt ChatGPT in its app, but the feature is currently only available to users on paid SnapChat+. Other early adopters include the app Quizlet Study Help, which uses access to ChatGPT apps for an AI tutor, and Instacart, which leverages technology to answer customers’ questions about recipes and food purchases.
OpenAI also said: “ChatGPT API users can expect continuous model improvements and custom capacity optimization for deeper control.”
The Company also undertakes not to use any data provided through the API to improve the Service or train the AI model, unless the Customer agrees to do so. “The users own the inputs and outputs of the models,” she said.
If a site or application uses ChatGPT, they will have to make it clear to users that they are interacting with a chatbot. This includes adding a disclaimer on any content generated by ChatGPT, such as news, medical or financial reports, to indicate that the information was written by a bot.
