{
  "id": 17134097,
  "title": "Sam Altman almost scrapped token pricing. Here’s why he backed off.",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/29/sam-altman-almost-scrapped-token-pricing-heres-why-he-backed-off",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-10-29T22:19:18.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The New Stack",
    "slug": "the-new-stack",
    "url": "https://thenewstack.io/openai-token-pricing-reversal/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "OpenAI contemplated abandoning token-based pricing for its upcoming model, allowing developers to submit a prompt and receive a price, before negative customer feedback persuaded the company to abandon the concept, CEO Sam Altman revealed. During a conversation with Stripe President John Collison on the Cheeky Pint podcast, Altman disclosed that OpenAI \"almost made a very — what would've been a bad call\" to abandon token-based pricing in favor of a flat-fee system similar to AWS, where users pay for usage rather than token by token. The pricing structure would have been transparent, avoiding the hassle of developers tracking input and output tokens to manage costs and predict future expenses. However, customer resistance to the token pricing proposal forced OpenAI to reconsider. Developers, accustomed to monitoring tokens to control expenses and estimate future costs, expressed negative feedback when OpenAI asked how they felt about receiving a price without a breakdown. Developers would prefer to pay a higher rate for the same output as long as the pricing remains consistent, according to Altman's conversations with a few developers. They feared that pricing without transparency would lead to unexpected costs down the line, similar to the CPU hour pricing model. Altman emphasized that tokens are a \"fake unit\" that, while real, are not an ideal way to measure AI usage. He dismissed the idea of creating an intelligence-equivalent token, comparing it to chipmakers' use of nanometer figures that have lost relevance. Despite the drawbacks, OpenAI continues to rely on token pricing, acknowledging its limitations and the ongoing search for a more effective alternative.",
  "summary": "OpenAI considered dropping token-based pricing for its next model, letting developers submit a prompt and receive a price for the The post Sam Altman almost scrapped token pricing. Here’s why he backed off. appeared first on The New Stack .",
  "key_points": [
    "OpenAI considered abandoning token pricing for upcoming model",
    "Negative feedback from developers led to abandoning flat-fee system",
    "Developers prefer transparent pricing over opaque token-based pricing"
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}