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.
That are 25 request per kWh. At 10 to 25cents per kWh that’s 1cent per request. That doesn’t seem to be too expensive.
Which is why they’re giving everybody free access, for now.
Hmmm. Sure. But I find people don’t understand how much one kWh really is. A 500W drill can twist your arm. Imagine yourself twisting someones arm with all you got for a whole hour. Or idk. Either way it’s a lot of energy.
And then you think about how much more energy a car uses then a human does. And then you find out about hot water…