One of the major reasons to be a paid user of ChatGPT is simply for the ability to not be limited by the number of prompts you can submit in a day. But it looks like that will no longer be necessary, as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says that when the new GPT-5 rolls around, free users “will get unlimited chat access”, subject to “abuse thresholds”.
Altman made the announcement on his official account on X, as part of sharing the OpenAI roadmap update for GPT-4.5 and GPT-5. When the latter rolls around, the only difference between using it for free and paying for certain subscription tiers is the level of intelligence by the AI model. Naturally, paying more gets you a higher tier. 
Note that it’s not mentioned that if the unlimited use of GPT-5 is limited to free users who sign in, or if it also extends to users who opt to not do that. But it’s probably safe to assumer the former is closer to the truth.
Also shared in the post is OpenAI’s effort to unify its many AI models into one once GPT-5 gets rolled out. “We hate the model picker as much as you do and want to return to magic unified intelligence”, Altman said in the post. The unified model, albeit separated by intelligence tiers, will also “incorporate voice, canvas, search, deep research and more”. The aforementioned GPT-4.5 will be the last version that’s not unified.
All that being said, the roadmap update lacked one important detail that you’d normally expect in anything with the word “roadmap” – rollout dates. Altman provided a cheeky answer of “weeks / months” to a question asking if these new versions will have an ETA measured in weeks or months. With that in mind, it’s probably best not to hold your breath for it.
(Source: Sam Altman / X [1], [2])
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