Grok and ChatGPT put their heaviest users on a tighter ration
Elon Musk admits Grok Bot became too expensive to run, while OpenAI will have ChatGPT and Codex draw on a single shared allowance.
Users of Grok Bot, Elon Musk's AI agent, saw their weekly usage limit suddenly fill up over the Halloween weekend, even when they had not used the service. According to posts on X, usage jumped for some from 50 to 100 percent or from 35 to 78 percent, TechCrunch and TechRadar report. Musk confirmed on X on Sunday that this was not a bug: in his view, the cost of serving Grok Bot was unsustainably high relative to revenue. He did not say how the limits will work from now on.
OpenAI is changing its rules too. According to an email to users reported by TechCrunch, the Chat and Work tabs in the ChatGPT desktop app will be merged into a single environment, starting with a limited group of testers. ChatGPT and the coding assistant Codex will then draw from the same pool of usage. According to StockTwits, republished by Yahoo Finance, the shared allowance takes effect on 31 December for the Plus, Pro and Business plans, and conversations in Instant mode will not count towards it. OpenAI says most users will not notice any difference, although some will have to wait more often for their limit to reset.
TechRadar sees the moves against the backdrop of investors doubting the profitability of AI, and expects tighter limits and higher prices to follow at other AI services. On Reddit, disappointed Grok Bot users described it as a hidden cut to what they had paid for.