Which raises the question - who is subsidizing this, and why?

internetter · 2026-08-18T01:00:55

Possibly OAI? If you have OAI tokens you are a captive audience. If you have OpenRouter you are bidding on a free market.

OpenRouter attributes this promotion to OpenAI https://x.com/OpenRouter/status/2089416739398254662

paxys · 2026-08-18T02:09:22

Is this captive audience not going to switch providers for a 50% discount? Especially when the effort is simply swapping one URL for another?

maxnevermind · 2026-08-18T06:22:30

Why though, to AB test/see the impact of a price cut on a platform with multiple competitors?

OutOfHere · 2026-08-18T01:27:22

OpenRouter is likely just leveraging Codex subscriptions.

prime_ursid · 2026-08-18T02:09:06

Wouldn’t that be against TOS?

OutOfHere · 2026-08-18T03:36:52

It might be through a level of indirection via an intermediate provider, offloading the TOS issue to the intermediate provider who couldn't care less.