India, Sept. 14 -- OpenAI has temporarily paused new sign-ups and upgrades for its USD 200-per-month ChatGPT Pro plan as strong demand for its latest AI model Astra puts additional pressure on computing capacity.

The move comes shortly after Astra became available to paying users following an initial limited rollout for enterprise customers. Its growing use is creating capacity challenges, particularly on the highest-priced ChatGPT plan, which offers substantially higher usage limits than the Plus tier.

According to information shared by OpenAI's product leadership, the pause is aimed at managing demand while maintaining service quality for the wider ChatGPT user base. Existing Pro subscribers will continue to have access while OpenAI w...