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OpenAI API pricing update FAQ

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Re: OpenAI API pricing update FAQ

#101

Post by ckosidows »

dr_dshiv wrote: post #80
floxy wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>1x cheaper would be same price. Let's say you have a product for sale at $32. Then you have a sale to boost name recognition, and have a coupon for $32 dollars off (limited time offer). Or equivalently, that would be $32 cheaper. So the net price is free ($0). $32 cheaper = 100% cheaper = 1x cheaper. Likewise, 25% cheaper = 25% less expensive, or doing the math $32 - 0.25*$32 = 0.75*$32 = $24.

That’s precisely why it’s confusing, yes. You can’t equate 100% cheaper with 1x cheaper. 99% cheaper is sensible. 200% cheaper is not. 2x cheaper is. I’d love a cogent reason to explain this convention.

I think 1x is baseline. If you can buy two for the original price, it's 2x cheaper. 10 for the same price? 10x cheaper.

The parent you're replying to seems to have things confused. 100% off isn't 1x cheaper -- it's infinitely cheaper.

Re: OpenAI API pricing update FAQ

#102

Post by copperx »

papandada wrote: post #48
dbrueck wrote: post #22

Is it just me, or are phrases like "3x cheaper" hard for other people to grok too? For some reason they always require me to pause and try to sort it out. Like, is the price being reduced by 66% or 75% or something else? What would "1x cheaper" mean?

From my copy editing days, it's drilled into me to never write "n times less" -- I get that it means "1/n" and that's how I'd rewrite it, but yes, it's notoriously confusing, or at least imprecise.

I think it's very precise. Just multiply the last cheapness value times three. If last month there was a 10% discount, today's discount is 30%.

Re: OpenAI API pricing update FAQ

#103

Post by tedsanders »

cbm-vic-20 wrote: post #33

I lack imagination. What is GPT-3 (and generative text models in general) useful for, other than toys? It can write essays, can we expect it to replace writers for newspapers and magazines? Can it write coherent technical documentation? Replace speechwriters? Edit: looks like the comment thread below is similar https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32554955

As someone who's used the models a fair bit (I work at OpenAI), I mentally sort applications into four buckets:

- Generative use cases, where you give the model the kernel of an idea and then you curate its output (e.g., blog writing, code completion, etc.)

- Extractive use cases, where you give the model some big piece of text, and then process it in some way (e.g., extract names and addresses, classify it, ask a question about the text)

- Transformational use cases, where you need to fix/adjust a piece of text, or translate from one domain to another (e.g., sometimes I'll use GPT-3 for little tasks like copying and pasting a table from a presentation and then asking the model to translate it to markdown; saves me a visit to Google and finding some table generator website)

- Comparisons, where you use embeddings to do search/clustering/recommendations over any set of strings (e.g., can combo nicely with the Q&A use case above, where you search over a knowledge base)

I started a repo here with some barebones examples of each: https://github.com/openai/openai-cookbook/

If you're looking for examples of commercial applications, OpenAI published two blog posts highlighting a few:

- GPT-3 use cases (2021): https://openai.com/blog/gpt-3-apps/

- Codex use cases (2022): https://openai.com/blog/codex-apps/

Re: OpenAI API pricing update FAQ

#104

Post by noja »

redox99 wrote: post #66
dbrueck wrote: post #22

Is it just me, or are phrases like "3x cheaper" hard for other people to grok too? For some reason they always require me to pause and try to sort it out. Like, is the price being reduced by 66% or 75% or something else? What would "1x cheaper" mean?

I process "3x cheaper" as "for the same money, I can get 3x the original amount". Which would be 33% the original price.

The problem is the word "cheaper".

For the opposite word, "expensive", it all depends on the word before it: "as expensive" or "more expensive".

"100 widgets cost $100. Unit price is $1." They are now twice _as_ expensive -> they now cost $200. Unit price is now $2.

"100 widgets cost $100. Unit price is $1." They are now two times _more_ expensive -> they now cost $300. Unit price is now $3.

But How do you do this with the word "cheap"? Does "cheaper" clearly mean "3x as cheap" or "3x more cheap" (which even sounds a bit wrong)? I guess it means "more cheap" means "cheaper".

Better to avoid the problem and say "They are now two times the cost, or half the cost". Which is much clearer.

Re: OpenAI API pricing update FAQ

#105

Post by breck »

keepquestioning wrote: post #92

What are people actually using GPT-3 for?

1. Generating text content for websites and blogs

2. Translating documents from one language to another

3. Writing e-mails, letters, and other forms of correspondence

4. Crafting resumes and cover letters

5. Writing marketing materials, such as brochures and flyers

6. Responding to comments on HN.

(I added the last one)

Re: OpenAI API pricing update FAQ

#106

Post by synu »

redox99 wrote: post #66
dbrueck wrote: post #22

Is it just me, or are phrases like "3x cheaper" hard for other people to grok too? For some reason they always require me to pause and try to sort it out. Like, is the price being reduced by 66% or 75% or something else? What would "1x cheaper" mean?

I process "3x cheaper" as "for the same money, I can get 3x the original amount". Which would be 33% the original price.

What would 1x cheaper mean? 100% of the original price?

Re: OpenAI API pricing update FAQ

#108

Post by IncRnd »

dbrueck wrote: post #22

Is it just me, or are phrases like "3x cheaper" hard for other people to grok too? For some reason they always require me to pause and try to sort it out. Like, is the price being reduced by 66% or 75% or something else? What would "1x cheaper" mean?

No, it's not just you. When you "times" something it is multiplication, not division. The phrasing is a logical impossibility, where the reader has to guess the intent of the author - of which there are several interpretations. The key here is that this is a language "thing" only and certainly not a construct of logic or math.

In the headline of this page, it wouldn't have taken but a moment to write a phrasing that would be understandable to all readers of the page. It could read, "GPT-3 will be Two Thirds Less," or, "GPT-3 will cost One Third the Price."

This example from a non-native English speaker shows the difficulties of having several possible interpretations, at least three! [1]

[1] https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/%C2%ABx-times-less%C...

Re: OpenAI API pricing update FAQ

#109

Post by ml_basics »

keepquestioning wrote: post #94
layer8 wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least it didn’t go into an infinite loop. Maybe there’s explicit logic to prevent that.

What are thresholds used in generative text to stop generating characters?

I'm not sure about GPT-3 specifically, but often these models are trained with an explicit "stop token", which the model can output when generating text to indicate that no more text should be produced.

That said, there's no reason it couldn't go into an infinite loop, just that the models are pretty sophisticated and therefore are less likely to do this than earlier generations of models (like predictive text on smart phones in the past)

Re: OpenAI API pricing update FAQ

#110

Post by slavik81 »

dr_dshiv wrote: post #52
dr_dshiv wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s incredibly good at generating scholarly text. Put in a title and abstract and it will come up with a strong intro that is clear and compelling. It helps me write academic papers more clearly, as a result. Also, great for early stages of grant writing or proposals. It came up with a fantastic conference proposal for me that I spent 20 minutes editing and then just sent, unedited. It will aid speechwriters or help…

I also asked it to help me write a letter to my homesick daughter at summer camp. It was really helpful. I feel that GPT3 has an enviable degree of emotional intelligence, nuance and conceptual understanding. Writing and communicating effectively with people is very hard. Our own emotions get in the way. Now we have technology that can help people be better communicators with each other. It’s a big deal.

When you say you're an empath, do you mean to claim that you have psychic powers? An empath is a being from science fiction with the psionic ability to sense emotions, like Counselor Troi on Star Trek. The term originates from the short story "Empath" by J. T. McIntosh, published in New Worlds Science Fiction #50, August 1956.
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