But the figures rely on hardware and usage assumptions that may be inaccurate.

The University of Rhode Island’s AI lab estimates that GPT-5 averages just over 18 Wh per query, so putting all of ChatGPT’s reported 2.5 billion requests a day through the model could see energy usage as high as 45 GWh.

A daily energy use of 45 GWh is enormous. A typical modern nuclear power plant produces between 1 and 1.6 GW of electricity per reactor per hour, so data centers running OpenAI’s GPT-5 at 18 Wh per query could require the power equivalent of two to three nuclear power reactors, an amount that could be enough to power a small country.

  • dan@upvote.auEnglish
    0·
    8 days ago

    How does OpenAI getting less money (with a cheaper model) mean more profit? Am I missing something?

    • IrateAnteater@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      0·
      8 days ago

      Usually, companies will make their product say 25% cheaper to produce, then sell it to the public at a 20% discount (while loudly proclaiming to the world about that 20% price drop) and pocket that 5% increase in profits. So if OpenAI is dropping the price by x, it’s safe to assume that the efficiency gains work out to x+1.

      • dan@upvote.auEnglish
        0·
        8 days ago

        Thanks! This makes sense, however OpenAI are not yet profitable. It’s definitely possible that they’re losing less money with the new models, though.

        • IrateAnteater@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          1·
          8 days ago

          That “not profitable” label should be taken with a grain of salt. Startups will do all the creative accounting they can in order to maintain that label. After all, don’t have to pay taxes on negative profits.