"Sadly you don’t know how to launch in India": OpenAI debuts ChatGPT Go at under $5/month to promote affordability, but reactions are mixed

OpenAI has been quite busy over the past couple of weeks, especially with the GPT-5 launch, which seemingly fell short of users' expectations following its drastic personality change due to the deprecation of its older models like GPT-4o and limited character limits.

Last week, the AI giant made some tweaks to its pricing page, including a new subscription plan dubbed ChatGPT Go. It's worth noting that the new ChatGPT subscription tier's availability is limited to certain regions like India, and it will cost 399 INR (Indian Rupee), which roughly translates to $5 per month.

The new subscription plan offers some sort of middle ground for users trying to get a little more out of what ChatGPT offers free, but not to the extent of a power user, who'd be better off getting the Plus or Pro plan.

OpenAI's primary focus with ChatGPT Go is centered on affordability to promote broader adoption across the world. However, it ships with a handful of nifty features, including:

• Access to OpenAI's new flagship model GPT-5.
• Expanded messaging and uploads.
• Expanded image creation
• Limited deep research
• Longer memory and context
• Extended advanced data analysis

OpenAI officially announced that it had launched ChatGPT Go in India earlier this week, with CEO Sam Altman expressing enthusiasm over what the future holds. "Looking forward to making ChatGPT more affordable in India first, and then learning from feedback to expand to other countries," the executive added.

But as it seems, multiple users aren't enthused by OpenAI's move to expand ChatGPT paid subscription plans to other regions. However, it's not the expanded reach that seems to perturb users.

A user on X (formerly Twitter) indicated, "Bro they just dropped the expansion pack for harvesting Indian memory cores at scale." The users further claimed that ChatGPT Go wasn't a subscription plan but a "soul funnel."

On the other hand, some users were happy about the launch of ChatGPT Go in India, further applauding OpenAI's quest to support different needs across the board.

When OpenAI launched GPT-5 it announced that it would deprecate the model's predecessors, but it has since backtracked on the decision following backlash from users, citing that they had ruined ChatGPT's user experience.

The AI firm promised to bring GPT-4o's warmth to GPT-5 as it had received overwhelming requests and feedback from users, but in the interim, the model is still available to users, but buried behind the company's $20/month ChatGPT Plus subscription.

ChatGPT Go's scam and affordability concerns

According to a user on X:

"You really thought people in India will subscribe to ChatGPT Go for 399 Rs/month when majority of the Indians don’t even subscribe to Youtube Premium Family Plan of 299 Rs/month?? With all the AI and insights you have, someone thought this was workable? This is laughable."

However, this comment on Sam Altman's post on X received backlash, claiming that the user was misinformed and that the claim was baseless. Some even claimed that they had friends and students subscribed to even higher and more expensive subscription tiers like ChatGPT Plus.

Some used the opportunity to pinpoint the flaw in OpenAI's marketing and launch of ChatGPT Go. "You could have announced this on 15th August, ended with “Jai Hind” and sales would have gone 10x," the X user indicated. "Sadly, you don’t know how to launch in India."

Another point of view from users suggested that ChatGPT Go would equip bad actors and scammers with next-gen technology to deploy their deceptive tactics on unsuspecting users. "This is a global nightmare, giving the least ethical people AI to scam the world better with," one user indicated.

While this seems to be a hot topic across social media and has sparked a lot of interest and concern in equal measure, the new subscription plan's adoption and negative/positive implications for society remain to be seen.

What are your thoughts on OpenAI launching its new and cheaper ChatGPT Go subscription in India? Share your thoughts with me in the comments.