OpenAI O1-Pro: Most Expensive AI Model Revealed

OpenAI Releases Enhanced o1-pro AI Model

OpenAI has made available a significantly enhanced iteration of its o1 AI model, designated o1-pro, through its developer API.

The company states that o1-pro leverages increased computational resources compared to the original o1, resulting in “consistently improved responses.”

Limited Availability and Cost

Currently, access to o1-pro is restricted to a select group of developers. Eligibility requires a minimum expenditure of $5 on OpenAI API services.

The pricing structure for o1-pro is substantial. OpenAI is charging $150 for every million tokens processed as input – equivalent to roughly 750,000 words.

Generating output with o1-pro is even more expensive, costing $600 per million tokens. This represents a twofold increase over the input cost of OpenAI’s GPT-4.5 and a tenfold increase compared to the standard o1 model.

OpenAI’s Expectations

OpenAI anticipates that the superior performance of o1-pro will justify the elevated costs for developers.

A spokesperson for OpenAI explained to TechCrunch: “The o1-pro version within the API utilizes greater computing power to facilitate more rigorous reasoning and deliver superior answers to complex challenges.”

“Responding to numerous requests from our developer base, we are pleased to introduce it to the API, offering more dependable results.”

Initial User Feedback

Despite being integrated into OpenAI’s ChatGPT platform for ChatGPT Pro subscribers since December, initial assessments of o1-pro have been mixed.

Users have reported difficulties with the model’s ability to solve Sudoku puzzles and its susceptibility to simple visual illusion-based humor.

Performance Benchmarks

Internal OpenAI benchmarks conducted late last year indicated that o1-pro exhibited only marginal improvements over the standard o1 model in coding and mathematical problem-solving.

However, the benchmarks did confirm that o1-pro provided more consistent and reliable answers to these types of problems.

Key takeaway: While offering enhanced reasoning capabilities, o1-pro comes at a significantly higher price point, and its real-world performance has received varied reviews.