OpenAI May Pause New ChatGPT Pro Subscriptions

Thibo Sottiaux, head of OpenAI's product teams for Codex and ChatGPT, said on X on September 9, 2026, that demand for the GPT-6 Astra model has broken all of the company's internal records, so OpenAI may temporarily pause new ChatGPT Pro subscriptions to maintain service quality for existing subscribers.

Compiled by Sergey KostenchukPublished 2026-09-10Updated 2026-09-18

2026-09-10 Business OpenAI

💼 OpenAI May Pause New ChatGPT Pro Subscriptions

OpenAI product lead Thibo Sottiaux said on X on September 9 that demand for the GPT-6 Astra model has broken all of the company's internal records. OpenAI is already using all available capacity, and if load continues to grow, new Pro subscriptions will be temporarily paused — to prevent queues and response speed drops.

🌍 Demand for the flagship model has exceeded inference throughput: OpenAI is willing to forgo new revenue rather than degrade the service for current customers. Access to the model itself is becoming scarce.

👤 If you were planning to switch to ChatGPT Pro, sign-ups may be temporarily limited — existing subscribers will retain access. Queues and limits on GPT-6 Astra will likely persist for a while.

Source 1: https://x.com/thsottiaux/status/2097559315150426222 Source 2: https://panews.io/articles/01a084c1-bce6-72a5-a36b-1d0a63e2b0d5

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