Would you be willing to pay for an Apple Intelligence+ subscription?

One of the big questions surrounding Apple’s AI plans was whether the company would absorb the costs of these features or charge a fee, aka an Apple Intelligence+ subscription.

So far, the news indicates that there will be no additional costs involved – but it looks like that could change in the future…

Apple Intelligence – currently free

When Apple announced its upcoming AI features under the Apple Intelligence brand, the news that there would be no charge for it, including the use of ChatGPT, was met with a positive reaction.

Apple is absorbing the operating costs of its own AI servers, Private Cloud Compute (PCC), and we later learned that the company struck an impressive deal to get access to ChatGPT without paying OpenAI anything.

But the Apple Intelligence+ subscription could follow

However, Bloomberg Mark Gurman said over the weekend that Apple hopes to make money from the feature in the future.

It’s possible to turn AI features and other software into paid services, but it will take time. While Apple Intelligence will be free initially, the long-term plan is to leverage these features.

The company could eventually launch something like “Apple Intelligence+” — with additional features that users pay a monthly fee for, much like iCloud. On top of that, Apple will receive a share of the subscription revenue from each AI partner it onboards.

It’s not yet clear how the company might separate paid features from inclusive features, but I can imagine a few potential scenarios.

Scenario 1: A free usage limit for PCC

Most AI companies have taken the same approach so far. Everyone gets free access, but there are usage limits.

With ChatGPT, for example, the following limits apply to free users:

• Limited use of the latest model (GPT-4o) within a three-hour window
• No image creation with DALL-E
• Additional usage limits for three specific tools:
  – Data analysis
  – Uploading files and images
  – Web browsing with ChatGPT

Apple could apply similar limits to PCC, where you’ll only get a certain number of off-device AI queries before you have to upgrade to a paid subscription.

Scenario 2: Subscription to external AI services

Another possible approach would be to include unlimited use of PCC, but eventually the use of third-party AI services like ChatGPT would become paid options.

In this scenario, if your task cannot be performed on devices or by Apple’s PCC, you will need an Apple Intelligence+ subscription to be able to transfer to external AI servers.

Would you pay for Apple Intelligence+?

If either scenario were to occur, would you be willing to pay for an Apple Intelligence+ subscription? Let’s assume the cost is between $5 and $10 per month. For the purposes of this survey, please keep in mind what price point would be comfortable for you within that range (if any).

Please participate in our survey and share your thoughts in the comments.

Photo by Randa Marzouk on Unsplash