GPT-6 launches with a $500 tier, and $200 users get half the usage

OpenAI has launched GPT-6, according to the information available. It includes “Intelligent UI” features: the model can produce interactive charts and buttons inside the conversation instead of plain text. The company also introduced a model called GPT-6.1 Soul. The commercial changes stand out more. OpenAI added a $500-a-month plan and halved the usage limit on its existing $200 plans.

We only have a brief note, with no benchmarks and no detailed specs, so we will not judge GPT-6’s capabilities until independent measurements exist. The pricing decision can be read now. Cutting the $200 tier’s quota in half while adding a $500 tier effectively raises the price for heavy users. They can pay 2.5 times as much or accept half the usage.

Our read: this fits a pattern we see across the frontier. Compute is scarce and expensive, and labs are passing that cost to their most demanding customers. It is a short-term squeeze, and power users will notice it first. It also creates an opening for open-weight models, which keep closing the gap and do not come with usage limits. The long-term direction of cheaper, more capable AI still holds. The near term is about rationing.