How Ante works, and what it costs

A portal, not an AI service. Ante does not give you access to anything and does not change how you work. It shows you one thing: what the AI you already use through ZotGPT has cost, and which campus account that cost gets charged to.

It exists so the monthly recharge is never the first you hear of a number.

ZotGPT is how most people use AI at UCI, and it is free. Portkey is the gateway underneath it that routes each request to the model providers like Anthropic and OpenAI, and records what it cost. Neither one charges you: ZotGPT is how you use AI, Portkey is how we measure it.

Ante reads those records so the cost of the models, which OIT pays for centrally, can be recovered fairly. It is the same usage you already have, just itemised.

The cost is not new. OIT has been paying the model providers for this usage all along. What is new is that you can see your share of it, and that it gets recharged to a campus account rather than absorbed centrally.

Nothing has been recharged yet. Your balance page lists each month separately, so you can see exactly what any recharge would cover before it happens.

You do not have to do anything for your work to carry on. The one thing worth doing is naming the account your usage should be charged to, because if nobody names one, the question lands with your department to sort out later.

To ante up is to put in your fair share of a shared pot. That is what this is: OIT pays for everyone's AI usage up front, and Ante is where you settle your part of it. Nothing more dramatic than paying your way.

It is also a quiet nod to the UCI Anteater, without leaning on the ant. Short, four letters, and it matches the gold A in the corner.

The AI models you used, plus a 3% service cost. Nothing else. OIT pays the model providers for everyone's usage and Ante recovers your share, so this is a reimbursement to OIT rather than a bill from a vendor. There is no subscription, no seat fee, and no minimum: a month where you use nothing costs nothing, as Example 4 shows.

It covers running the recharge itself: preparing the billing file, reconciling it against KFS, and keeping account details current. It is set to recover the staff time the service actually takes, using the same method OIT uses for its other software recharges.

It is reviewed against real effort rather than fixed for good, so it can go down as well as up. Your balance shows the two parts separately, so you can always see which is which.

No. There is no card, no invoice to you personally, and no account for you to top up. You have never had a payment relationship with Portkey or with the model providers, and you cannot start one through Ante.

OIT pays the providers directly. The cost then moves between campus accounts through KFS, the same way other OIT services are recharged. No money leaves your pocket at any point.

The model cost is one line and the 3% service cost is the other. Ante shows both, so the difference is never a mystery.

ZotGPT is still free, and so is signing in here. What Ante recharges is the cost of the AI models behind ZotGPT, which OIT has been paying for centrally. You are reimbursing OIT for your share of that, not paying a fee for ZotGPT.

Yes. Usage is metered, so what you spend follows what you do. Somebody running large jobs against an expensive model can reach four figures in a month, and somebody who asks a few questions a week costs a few dollars. Neither is a mistake.

Requests and cost are only loosely related: a heavy user of a cheap model can cost far less than a light user of an expensive one.

Sign in to Ante and enter a KFS account number. If your department already charges other software to an account, Ante will usually suggest it, along with the name of the fiscal officer who holds it.

Ask your fiscal officer or your supervisor. They hold the account and they are the right person to decide which one your AI usage belongs to. It is worth asking rather than guessing, because a wrong account means the charge has to be moved later.

No. Naming an account starts a request to its fiscal officer, and nothing is charged until they approve it. If they decline, you will be asked to choose another, and your access is not affected either way.

You can set a monthly threshold, and Ante will tell you when you get close to it and when you pass it. Your fiscal officer can set one for you as well, and if they do, you will see the amount and their name on your balance page.

No. A threshold is a heads up, never a cap. Nothing is blocked, nothing is throttled, and your work carries on. The point is that you find out early, not that you get stopped.

You, the fiscal officer for the account you nominate, and the OIT business office that runs the recharge. What they see is the cost and the number of requests. Ante does not read, store, or show what you actually typed or what came back.

For a question about a charge or which account should carry it, start with your fiscal officer, since they hold the account. For anything about Ante itself, or if a number looks wrong, contact the OIT Help Desk and mention Ante.