OpenAI Just dropped a ‘Luxury AI’

Plus, xAI Rolls Out an Image Generation API

AuthorAuthor

Tak Lo & Daniel Akpobare
March 20, 2025

Hello and welcome to the Automated, your AI tour guide.

OpenAI just dropped o1-Pro, a high-end AI model with a price tag that’ll make your wallet cry. Meanwhile, xAI has entered the image generation game with a brand-new API.

With both companies making big moves, the question is—are these new AI tools actually worth it?

Here’s what we have for you today:

  • 🤑 OpenAI’s o1-Pro: The Luxury AI with a Hefty Price Tag

  • 🖼️ xAI Rolls Out an Image Generation API

  • 💼 How small businesses can thrive with AI.

  • 🛒 The best AI tools for e-commerce & how they'll boost your business.

  • 🤖 ChatGPT Prompt Of The Day: Email Templates (writing cart, purchase and customer service emails).

🤑 OpenAI’s o1-Pro: The Luxury AI with a Hefty Price Tag.

OpenAI just rolled out o1-pro, a souped-up version of its o1 reasoning model, and let’s just say—if you thought AI was expensive before, brace yourself, because this thing is premium.

Unlike regular AI models like GPT-4, reasoning models don’t just spit out answers—they take their time, think things through, and (in theory) make fewer dumb mistakes. 

OpenAI claims o1-pro gives “consistently better responses” than o1 because it uses way more computing power.

But here’s the kicker: It’s ridiculously expensive.

We’re talking $150 per million input tokens and $600 per million output tokens—that’s twice the price of GPT-4.5 and ten times more than o1.

To put that in perspective, it’s 10,000 times pricier than GPT-4o-mini. Yep, like we said—OpenAI basically made a luxury AI.

And for all that extra cash? You get no fancy new features. Just extra computational power to make it “think harder.”

Everything else? Pretty much the same as o1. We’re talking:

  • 200,000-token context window.

  • 100,000-token output limit.

  • September 2023 knowledge cutoff.

  • And support for image inputs, function calling, and structured outputs.

For now, only select developers (aka those who’ve spent at least $5 on OpenAI’s API) can access o1-pro through the new Responses API.

But if you use OpenAI’s Chat Completions API? Sorry—you’re not included.

Oh, and since it’s only available through the Responses API, which is built for AI agents, that pretty much confirms this model was designed specifically for AI agents.

But Is It Actually Worth It?

That’s the million-dollar question (literally, if you generate enough tokens). OpenAI insists developers have been begging for this, even posting screenshots of requests on X.

But early tests? Meh.

When o1-pro was first tested in ChatGPT Pro, users weren’t exactly thrilled—it in-fact, struggled with Sudoku and couldn’t even recognize optical illusions.

Even benchmark tests, (published in December) showed only minor improvements over o1 in math and coding tasks. 

Meanwhile, OpenAI is working on an even more advanced reasoning model, o3, but there’s no word on when (or if) it’ll be released.

So, if you’re a developer willing to spend big bucks for marginally better AI reasoning, congrats—OpenAI made this just for you.

Otherwise? Stick with the cheaper models—trust me, your wallet will thank you.

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🖼️ xAI Rolls Out an Image Generation API!

Elon Musk’s xAI just turned up the heat in the AI race with the launch of an image generation in its API—because apparently, taking over text-based AI wasn’t enough!

The new feature, powered by the “grok-2-image-1212” model, lets developers generate up to 10 images per request (with a limit of five requests per second) in JPG format, all at a cost of $0.07 per image.

How does it stack up against the competition?

xAI’s pricing is slightly higher than Black Forest Labs, which partnered with xAI last year to bring AI-generated images to X (formerly Twitter) at around $0.05 per image.

But it undercuts Ideogram, another big player in the space, which charges up to $0.08 per image on the higher end.

Right now, the API is still in its early stages, meaning there are some limitations.

You can’t tweak the quality, size, or style of images yet, and every prompt you submit gets reviewed by a “chat model” before processing.

So, while it’s not as customizable as some of its rivals, it’s clear that xAI is moving fast to expand its AI empire.

And let’s be real—this is all about cash and scale.

xAI has been on a fundraising spree, reportedly in talks to raise $10 billion, which could push its valuation to $75 billion.

Meanwhile, Musk’s AI ambitions aren’t stopping at images—xAI recently acquired a generative AI video startup and is expanding its Memphis-based data center to supercharge the training of Grok 3 and future AI models.

So, what’s next? 

If xAI keeps up this breakneck pace, we could soon see video generation, more advanced customization, and even deeper integration into X and beyond.

One thing’s for sure—Musk is making sure xAI stays in the AI game, and in a big way.

 🧱Around The AI Block

  • Pickle: Creates a clone to stand in for you during video meetings, then lets you jump back in whenever you're ready.

  • Martin: Is a personal assistant that automates and streamlines everyday tasks like managing your calendar, email, to-do lists, and Slack.

  • Plus AI for PowerPoint: Makes PowerPoint presentations for you from a prompt, a doc, or a PDF.

  • Autogmail: Automatically writes responses as a draft every time you get emailed that you can quickly approve or tweak and then send.

  • ZenAdmin: Manages all your company's IT needs—from equipment procurement to employee support - in one centralized platform.

🤖ChatGPT Prompt Of The Day: Email Templates (writing cart, purchase and customer service emails).

Cart, purchase, and customer service emails aren’t just transactions—they’re trust-builders. Done right, they drive sales, strengthen relationships, and turn one-time buyers into loyal customers.

So whether it’s a cart reminder, order confirmation, or a follow-up, your emails should do more than inform—they should guide, reassure, and convert.

Here are some prompts to help you get started! 

Abandoned cart emails to encourage customers to complete their purchase

Prompt: "Create a persuasive email to recover abandoned carts, reminding customers of the items left behind and incentivizing them to complete their purchase with [your special offer or personalized message].”

Order confirmation emails with shipment and delivery information

Prompt: "Craft a clear and informative order confirmation email, including details about the customer's purchase, shipment, and delivery information. Make sure the email reassures customers about their order status.”

Post-purchase follow-up emails with related products or services

Prompt: "Write a thoughtful post-purchase follow-up email suggesting [your related products or services] based on the customer's recent purchase. Enhance their experience by offering complementary items.”

Upsell or cross-sell emails to increase revenue

Prompt: "Develop a persuasive email to upsell or cross-sell [your additional products or services] to existing customers. Highlight the value and benefits to encourage them to make an additional purchase.”

Customer service or support follow-up emails

Prompt: "Create a helpful and empathetic customer service follow-up email, make sure that [your customer's concern] has been addressed. Provide additional assistance, ask for feedback, and thank them for their patience.”

We've Compiled a List of Over 100 ChatGPT Power Prompts.

This should help streamline your interactions with ChatGPT and get the results you need more efficiently.

Best of all, It's free!

That's all we've got for you today.

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