In May 2024 OpenAI launched GPT-4o (the “o” is for “omni”), a model that handles text, audio and images together and responds in near real time — while being significantly faster and roughly half the cost of its predecessor for developers.
The affordability is the real story for businesses. As capable AI gets cheaper, it becomes practical to weave it into everyday workflows: customer support, content, data lookups and more.
Why this matters
- Cheaper AI means wider use — lower cost unlocks everyday business applications.
- Multimodal by default — text, voice and images in one model opens new use cases.
- Speed changes the experience — near real-time responses make AI feel like a true assistant.
- The bar keeps rising — today’s premium capability becomes tomorrow’s baseline.
What we’d advise
We help clients identify high-value, low-risk uses for AI and put the right guardrails around company and customer data, so you capture the upside safely.
Source: OpenAI announcement, May 2024.