"Paying for Speed" Spreads: Who Started Selling a Fast Lane, and When

Paying for speed started with xAI in April 2025 and spread to OpenAI, Kimi, MiniMax and DeepSeek within about a year.Draft, pending review

How to read this chart

X is when each fast lane first appeared; y is its multiple of the standard price.

Source: Published model pricing and the Artificial Analysis index; FinSight compilation · Updated 2026-09-04