Hey Hackers!
Welcome back to our 3 Tech Polls Newsletter. If you’re new here, here’s the quick rundown: every week, we spotlight community-driven conversations shaping tech and its adjacent industries. It features HackerNoon’s latest
This week, we look at what the ecosystem has to say about the growing costs of top-of-the-line AI tools.
Join the conversation by voting on the HackerNoon Poll of the Week.
Now, let’s kick things off with the HackerNoon community’s POV:
The HackerNoon Community Perspective
692 Technologists responded to this past week’s poll: Would you pay $20–$30/month to use ChatGPT’s most advanced model without ads?
As the image above shows, a majority of respondents(45% combined), said no. For one half (23%), the price simply does not match their usage. For the other (22%), ads are acceptable as long as the app’s core features remain accessible. This suggests that most technologists remain highly value-conscious. It is also worth noting that with the MRR-ification of life, subscription models across verticals, from entertainment to health, are competing for scarce resources earmarked for recurring payments. In that context, value alone may not be enough. Priority is likely the deciding factor.
That may be the thinking behind the sizeable minority (36%) who said they would pay $20 to $30 to avoid ads or already do. If AI is already embedded in your workflow, frequent ads would no doubt be an incredible inconvenience. That tension likely explains the 19 percent who said their decision depends on how often ads appear and how the rollout is handled.
Zooming out from all of this, the predictability of the tech ecosystem comes to light once more: an innovation threatens (or promises) to completely rethink the way we navigate life and work, and initially, everyone panics and rushes to adopt. But eventually, the market matures, and usage patterns bend in the direction of practical utility.
Now, let’s see what the rest of the web is saying about AI tool prices and perceived utility.
Around the Web: Kalshi Pick
Will OpenAI Increase the Cost of ChatGPT?
Prediction markets are already pricing in what our community debated in the poll above. On Kalshi, traders currently assign roughly a mid-range probability that OpenAI raises ChatGPT prices, with volume crossing the $20,000 mark.
In other words, while 45 percent of our respondents are unwilling to pay $20 to $30 per month, a meaningful slice of the broader market believes the cost conversation is not over. If prices rise, the real question becomes whether users absorb the increase, downgrade, or look elsewhere.
Around the Web: Polymarket Pick
Which company will have the #1 AI model at the end of February?
On Polymarket, traders are placing real money on who will hold the top AI model. Anthropic currently dominates the board in the mid-70 percent range. Google follows at a distance. OpenAI sits much lower, in the single digits. Volume has surpassed $300,000, suggesting strong conviction about who the king of the hill is.
Prediction markets tend to reflect collective belief in future performance and, by extension, future value. If OpenAI is not seen as the likely holder of the #1 model in the near term, it subtly weakens the narrative that its product commands premium pricing by default.
Markets reward perceived utility. Our community’s hesitation suggests that, for many technologists, ChatGPT has not yet crossed from helpful tool to must-have infrastructure.
That’s all for this week!
See you at the next one.