Microsoft has spent billions on integrating ChatGPT into its Copilot AI assistant for Edge, Bing and Home windows 11 – and a brand new code leak suggests it might be planning to claw again a few of that funding very quickly.

As noticed by Android Authority, some new Edge browser updates for Android include a number of code references to a ‘Copilot Professional’ tier that is not but out there. Proper now, Copilot (beforehand known as Bing Chat) is totally free and, as Tom’s Information lately observed, even offers some entry to the most recent ChatGPT mannequin, GPT-Four Turbo.

However these days might be numbered if Copilot Professional does develop into a actuality. The code incorporates references to a “pay wall upsell” possibility, which means that Microsoft is planning its equal of ChatGPT Plus. The latter at present prices $20 / £16 / AU$28 per thirty days.

These strings of code found in Edge additionally give us hints of what sort of includes a Copilot Professional subscription may give us. These embody entry to the latest AI fashions (in different phrases, ChatGPT’s GPT-Four Turbo), precedence server entry, and “high-quality” picture technology.

Whereas it appears doubtless {that a} free Copilot tier will proceed to be out there, the times of Microsoft giving us fairly so many free AI perks, then, might be drawing to an in depth.

Plus factors

The arrival of a ChatGPT Professional subscription has all the time been a matter of when quite than if, when you think about how a lot its prices to run an AI assistant on the size of Microsoft Copilot. Within the case of ChatGPT, some estimates counsel the pc {hardware} prices might be as excessive as $700,000 a day.

That is why ChatGPT launched its Plus subscription in February 2023 – and, a 12 months on, it appears like Microsoft Copilot Professional might quickly be following in that paid mannequin’s footsteps. 

Sadly, that would imply the free model of Copilot turning into a bit dumber, as that model at present offers you entry to ChatGPT’s newest fashions and in addition Dall-E three picture technology. 

Hopefully, a few of Copilot’s present restrictions, like being restricted to 300 conversations per day, can even be eased within the Professional model. Whereas we do not but know when this Copilot Professional tier may launch, it appears like we might discover out very quickly.

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