Altman: OpenAI Almost Ditched Token Pricing for an AWS-Style Bill, Users Refused
menhguin · x · 2026-10-30
Sam Altman says tokens are a "fake form of business from a value point of view" and reveals OpenAI nearly stopped charging by tokens: they considered pricing the next model with no tokens at all — "you give it a prompt, and we give you a price back. It's going to be like AWS."
But customer response was so negative — "I need to know what I'm paying for" — that the idea was dropped. Altman even asked users if they'd pay more for the same output as long as it was priced in consistent (even inflated) tokens, and they still preferred tokens.
The reposter notes both Altman and Dario Amodei agree tokens are artificial; it's the end users who aren't ready for a different model.
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