Recent analysis of OpenAI’s product code suggests the company is preparing a multi-tiered rollout for its next-generation model, GPT-5. According to a report from Alexey Shabanov of TestingCatalog, the plan points to a three-level system: a base model for free users, an advanced version for ChatGPT Plus, and a new top-tier “Pro” model with “research-level” capabilities. While unconfirmed by OpenAI, this development represents a calculated and almost inevitable strategic move. The rumored GPT-5 monetization plan leak is not just about new features; it’s a direct response to the intense competitive pressures from Google and Anthropic and the staggering economic realities of funding AGI-level research. This strategy aligns with an established industry playbook for balancing broad accessibility with the high-cost demands of cutting-edge AI development.

Key Points

• Leaked details indicate a three-tier GPT-5 tiered rollout strategy, segmenting users into Base, Advanced (Plus), and a new “Pro” tier with “research-level” functions.

• This approach mirrors the established monetization models of competitors, including Google’s Gemini ecosystem and Anthropic’s Claude 3 family (Haiku, Sonnet, Opus).

• The “Pro” tier addresses a commercial necessity to finance the immense computational costs of AGI development, a point previously highlighted by OpenAI’s leadership.

• To justify a premium, a new top-tier model must surpass current state-of-the-art benchmarks, such as Claude 3 Opus’s 86.8% score on the MMLU benchmark.

Decoding the Three-Tier Blueprint

The core of the rumor, originating from code analysis, outlines a clear product differentiation strategy for GPT-5. This structure would segment capabilities to serve distinct user groups, from casual users to high-end enterprise clients.

The alleged tiers include a baseline GPT-5 for free users, an “Advanced Reasoning” version for ChatGPT Plus subscribers, and a new “GPT-5 Pro” with “research-level” intelligence. This top tier suggests capabilities that extend beyond current models, potentially enabling autonomous AI agents that can execute complex, multi-step tasks. This aligns with the industry’s push toward more agentic systems and addresses the high-value needs of enterprise and scientific research. The strategy is explicitly framed as a way to “finance the development of AGI,” a mission that requires massive capital investments, as reported by Reuters regarding CEO Sam Altman’s fundraising efforts.

No text — The core of the rumor, originating from code analysis, outlines a clear product differentiation strategy for GPT-5.

The Industry’s Tiered Playbook

A tiered model is rapidly becoming the standard operating procedure for leading AI labs, which helps explain why is GPT-5 a tiered model and makes OpenAI’s rumored move a logical progression rather than a surprise. This approach addresses the economic imperative of balancing astronomical R& D costs with the need for broad market access. The generative AI market, projected by Grand View Research to hit $109.37 billion by 2030, provides a powerful incentive for such sophisticated pricing structures.

This is a well-trodden path. Google offers Gemini Advanced with its more powerful 1.5 Pro model for a monthly fee, while Anthropic’s Claude 3 family is explicitly tiered by cost and capability. OpenAI’s own history, from the introduction of ChatGPT Plus to the recent launch of GPT-4o, demonstrates this evolution. According to OpenAI’s announcement, GPT-4o brought GPT-4-level intelligence to free users, reinforcing the value of paid tiers through higher usage limits and earlier access to new features. The OpenAI competitive strategy against Gemini and Claude necessitates a similar, clearly defined value ladder.

Raising the Benchmark Bar

To command a premium price, a “GPT-5 Pro” must deliver a significant and measurable leap in performance over existing state-of-the-art models. The competitive bar is exceptionally high. For instance, Anthropic announced that its Claude 3 Opus model was the first commercial model to surpass GPT-4 on key benchmarks like MMLU, scoring 86.8%.

Beyond raw intelligence, other features have become critical differentiators. Google’s Gemini 1.5 Pro introduced a breakthrough 1 million token context window, enabling analysis of entire codebases or massive documents, as detailed in its technical report. A competitive “Pro” model from OpenAI would need to match or exceed this capability. Furthermore, with GPT-4o, OpenAI pushed the boundaries of native multimodality, enabling real-time conversational interaction across text, audio, and images. A top-tier model would be expected to build on this foundation, offering even more sophisticated understanding of complex inputs like video. The debate over GPT-5 Pro vs Plus features will ultimately be settled by these hard metrics.

Economics of AI’s Next Frontier

Ultimately, the rumored GPT-5 tiered model is a pragmatic strategy to reconcile two conflicting goals: democratizing powerful AI and funding the next wave of innovation. By creating a premium “Pro” tier for high-value enterprise and research use cases, OpenAI can generate the substantial revenue needed to support its core AGI mission and subsidize access for millions of free and Plus users. This business model is not just a plan; it’s a proven industry standard for sustainable growth in a capital-intensive field.

This approach solidifies a sustainable cycle of innovation, where revenue from today’s most advanced models directly funds the development of tomorrow’s breakthroughs for everyone. This could mean tackling grand scientific challenges, in a manner similar to how DeepMind’s AlphaFold addressed the problem of protein folding. The critical question remains: what specific, verifiable capabilities will “research-level” AI deliver to justify its place at the top of the market?