OpenAI Tests Performance-Based Billing for Businesses

OpenAI is offering certain major clients the option to pay for AI services only when a task is successfully completed. This unannounced option, which the company has not commented on, aligns with a broader shift towards outcome-based billing. From Salesforce to Adobe, publishers are adjusting their offerings, while the issue of attributing gains becomes central.

Attributing Gains Becomes a Key Contractual Aspect

As outcome-based billing progresses, it becomes increasingly difficult to determine whether a savings or sale is attributable to the software or the client. Stripe has released guidelines to clarify these situations, reminding that an outcome can stem from a product evolution, a marketing campaign, or seasonality. Without precise attribution rules, clients may contest the supplier's share in performance. Adobe has indicated that its CX Enterprise suite will be partially billed based on the value created, such as the number of advertising campaigns executed, though it did not specify pricing. The publisher maintains its subscription and usage models for other tools, and its AI features for photo and video editing are not subject to this pricing.

Cost and Budget Pressures Drive Value-Based Payment

High operating costs and the lack of revenue acceleration are pushing publishers to rethink their pricing, as IT budgets are constrained by competition from tools like Claude from Anthropic, which has strengthened its usage-based billing. Models are shifting away from fixed subscriptions in favor of pay-per-use or pay-for-results, with some prices now linked to revenue gains or cost savings. This approach, initially championed by startups, is already being implemented by Sierra and Fin, the latter of which is in the process of being acquired by Salesforce for $3.6 billion. Cognition promises up to $10 million in credits if its results do not at least cover the amount paid. Adobe, HubSpot, and Zendesk are also moving towards outcome-based pricing. At Salesforce, companies can choose the payment model for Agentforce, including negotiated contracts based on revenue increases or cost reductions. Marc Benioff emphasized that clients want varied terms and described a model where it is no longer just about charging two dollars per processed call, but charging two dollars because the AI generated 20 or 40.

OpenAI Offers Payment Conditional on Task Success

In recent months, OpenAI has provided some of its key clients with the option to pay for services only when its artificial intelligence successfully completes a task, such as processing support requests. This change had not been publicly announced, and OpenAI has not responded on the matter. It fits within the experimentation of outcome-based pricing, where clients pay only in cases of measured success, raising the question of establishing attribution rules to prove that the performance indeed comes from the AI.