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# OpenAI Opens ChatGPT to Developers at $0.002 per 1,000 Tokens and Launches Whisper Speech API
- URL: https://www.theamericanquorum.com/taq-historical-2023-03-04-tech/
- Published: 2023-03-05T04:59:00.000Z
- Updated: 2023-03-05T04:59:00.000Z
- Description: OpenAI launched APIs for ChatGPT and Whisper, pricing gpt-3.5-turbo at $0.002 per 1,000 tokens and turning its consumer AI breakthrough into a developer platform.
- Author: Kenneth R. Deans Jr.
- Tags: Tech, #Import 2026-08-31 22:58

OpenAI this week turned ChatGPT from a destination into infrastructure, releasing application-programming interfaces for its conversational model and Whisper speech-recognition system and setting an aggressive price of **$0.002 per 1,000 tokens** for the new gpt-3.5-turbo model.

The March 1 [announcement](https://openai.com/index/introducing-chatgpt-and-whisper-apis/?ref=theamericanquorum.com) gives developers a direct way to build ChatGPT-like interactions into their own products rather than sending users to OpenAI’s website. OpenAI said the same model family used in ChatGPT can now power applications through a structured chat format, while the Whisper API provides speech-to-text transcription and translation at $0.006 per minute.

## From viral application to developer platform

ChatGPT’s public release in November produced extraordinary consumer attention, but an API changes the economic role of the technology. Instead of operating only as an OpenAI-controlled interface, the model can become a component inside education software, commerce applications, social networks, customer-service systems and internal business tools. A contemporaneous [TechCrunch report](https://techcrunch.com/2023/03/01/openai-launches-an-api-for-chatgpt-plus-dedicated-capacity-for-enterprise-customers/?ref=theamericanquorum.com) noted that OpenAI is also offering dedicated capacity for customers seeking more predictable performance and control over model availability.

The pricing is notable because it lowers the cost of experimenting with generative AI. OpenAI says gpt-3.5-turbo delivers ChatGPT-class performance through the API while costing one-tenth as much as its previous GPT-3.5 models. That creates a much larger addressable market for applications that may require thousands or millions of conversational exchanges.

The API is designed around a series of messages with roles such as system, user and assistant. That structure lets developers give the model persistent instructions, pass conversation history and shape the behavior of a service without constructing every interaction as one long text prompt. It also makes the model easier to integrate into conventional software architectures.

## Early products show the breadth of use cases

OpenAI identified Snap, Quizlet, Instacart and Shopify among early adopters. Snap is using OpenAI technology for “My AI,” a conversational feature inside Snapchat. A February 27 [Ars Technica report](https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/02/sorry-in-advance-snapchat-warns-of-hallucinations-with-new-ai-conversation-bot/?ref=theamericanquorum.com) described the bot as initially available to Snapchat+ subscribers and highlighted Snap’s warning that generative systems can produce incorrect or misleading answers.

A contemporaneous [Reuters report](https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/snap-to-roll-out-chatbot-using-openais-tech-3015751?ref=theamericanquorum.com) said Snap planned to position the chatbot as a mobile companion that could suggest gifts, meals, travel ideas and other everyday information. The launch illustrates both the opportunity and risk for consumer platforms: generative AI can create a new engagement surface, but the company deploying it inherits responsibility for how users interpret its answers.

Quizlet, meanwhile, announced an AI tutor called Q-Chat. Its March 1 [release](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/quizlet-launches-q-chat-ai-tutor-built-with-openai-api-301759014.html?ref=theamericanquorum.com) said the system would use the OpenAI API to guide students through adaptive questions rather than simply return answers. That use case shows why the chat interface matters technically: the software can preserve context across turns and react to the student’s prior response.

## Whisper turns speech into another programmable input

The second launch, Whisper, extends OpenAI’s platform beyond text generation. Whisper is a speech-recognition model trained on large quantities of multilingual audio. The new API can transcribe speech in the original language or translate supported speech into English. A separate [TechCrunch report](https://techcrunch.com/2023/03/01/openai-debuts-whisper-api-for-text-to-speech-transcription-and-translation/?ref=theamericanquorum.com) described the service as a hosted version of the open-source Whisper model, eliminating the need for developers to operate the compute infrastructure themselves.

That could make speech interfaces easier to add to meeting tools, call-center systems, media workflows, accessibility products and mobile applications. The cost structure—$0.006 per minute—also makes automated transcription feasible for use cases that previously relied on specialist vendors or local processing.

Together, the two APIs point toward a broader architecture in which an application can accept speech, convert it to text, reason or generate through a conversational model and return a response without requiring the developer to train an AI model from scratch. The value increasingly shifts from the model alone to the orchestration of models, proprietary data and software workflows.

## Reliability and control become product questions

Opening ChatGPT through an API does not solve the model’s known limitations. OpenAI’s own launch materials acknowledge that model outputs can be incorrect and that developers need to account for changing model behavior. The company is introducing versioned model snapshots so customers can pin applications to a specific model release instead of automatically receiving every update.

OpenAI also says it will not use data submitted through the API for service improvements unless customers opt in, a policy change aimed at organizations concerned about sending proprietary information into an external model. A developer [announcement](https://community.openai.com/t/introducing-chatgpt-and-whisper-apis/80485/29?ref=theamericanquorum.com) accompanying the launch emphasizes operational feedback, model stability and the transition of existing applications toward the new chat format.

The strategic significance is larger than any one integration. ChatGPT demonstrated that conversational generative AI can attract a mass audience. The API now tests whether the same technology can become a general software layer. If developers can build reliable products at the announced prices, OpenAI’s most important product may not be ChatGPT itself but the programmable model behind thousands of other applications.