Why is OpenAI hitting the pause button on ChatGPT Plus signups?

It looks like ChatGPT is experiencing significant strain due to its growing user base. After encountering multiple outages and receiving complaints about the chatbot's slowdown, a recent post on X by OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, indicates that the company has paused ChatGPT Plus sign-ups.

What

If you were considering subscribing to ChatGPT Plus, you'll have to wait, as the CEO announced that they won't be giving any new Plus subscriptions for now. But before delving into the reasons why, let's first understand what Chat GPT Plus entails.

ChatGPT Plus is an optional subscription that grants access to an advanced language model, GPT-4. Additionally, it unlocks ChatGPT plugins and a Code Interpreter, enhancing the chatbot's capabilities.

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This decision comes after recent updates to ChatGPT-4, including:

• Updating the knowledge base until April 2023.
• Allowing image prompts directly within the chat interface.
• Incorporating text-to-speech features and more.

Now that you're aware of the features of ChatGPT Plus, here's the latest:

Sam Altman stated on Twitter, "The recent surge in usage following the DevDay developers conference has led to capacity challenges, resulting in the decision to pause ChatGPT Plus signups."

In simple terms, the subscription plans for ChatGPT are currently unavailable due to high demand. Altman made this announcement on November 15.

Apart from addressing capacity issues, this decision aims to ensure a high-quality user experience for existing subscribers. If you are already subscribed to the Plus program, you will not encounter any issues.

Regarding the duration of this pause, there hasn't been an official response yet.

The recent outages

This decision follows a week after ChatGPT experienced prolonged downtime for many users.

• OpenAI acknowledged the issue, citing an abnormal traffic pattern indicative of a DDoS attack and assured users that a fix was in progress.

• However, this is not the first instance of dissatisfaction. Users had previously complained about ChatGPT's slow performance and frequent outages.

• In July 2023, a study revealed that ChatGPT's growth rate had slowed down.

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