Paid functions are mainly aimed at professional and heavy users, and could support deeper responses and faster video generation, which have clear market demand, Liu Dingding, a veteran industry observer, told the Global Times on Monday.

　　For certain users, paying for AI services can bring higher-quality products and more specialized support, such as in-depth article writing, more polished PowerPoint presentations and more diversified AI agent services, Liu said. “Such tasks usually consume more computing power and reasoning time, meaning higher costs for companies.”

　　The news triggered heated discussions among Chinese netizens on Monday. Some said the proposed prices were too high, while others said they might switch to free alternatives given the wide range of AI tools available in the market. Some users, however, said the move was normal, arguing that no service can remain free forever.

　　As one of ByteDance’s core large language models (LLMs), Doubao had long been known for its free-access model.

　　Tan Dai, president of Volcano Engine, the cloud service platform of ByteDance, , said in an interview with thepaper.cn in early April that price increases reflect only the market choices of some companies, while others are still cutting prices. The key difference, he said, lies in how companies judge the value of tokens.

　　As next-generation models become more powerful, each token may cost more, but it can also create greater economic value, Tan said, adding “Price increases driven by stronger model intelligence are ultimately about delivering greater value to customers.”

　　Liu said the trial of commercialization is, to a certain extent, one of the future trends for LLM companies as they expand.