this post was submitted on 15 Aug 2025
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ChatGPT 5 power consumption could be as much as eight times higher than GPT 4 — research institute estimates medium-sized GPT-5 response can consume up to 40 watt-hours of electricity (www.tomshardware.com)
submitted 3 days ago by homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
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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.

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[–] MangoCats@feddit.it 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

This figure is already not bad. 40 watt hours = 0.04kWh - you know kWh? That unit on your electric bill that is around $0.18 per kWh (and data centers tend to be in lower cost electric areas, closer to $0.11/kWh.) Still, 40Wh would register on your home electric bill at $0.0072, less than a penny. For comparison, an average suburban 4 ton AC unit draws 4kW - that 40Wh request? 1/100th of an hour of AC for your home, about 36 seconds of air conditioning. I don't know that this article is making anybody "look bad" in terms of power used.

[–] msage@programming.dev 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

What exactly do you get for that power though?

The point is that it's too much power for little gain in return.

[–] MangoCats@feddit.it 1 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) (1 children)

Arguably, a great deal more than the energy you lose from opening the door to your house in the summer, once while the A/C is running.

Or, looking at it another way, an AI query+result can be just as valuable as a Tik Tok post / view.

[–] msage@programming.dev 1 points 3 hours ago

I consider TikTok harmful, so you are right about your last sentence.

But my AC does not nor ever has actually consumed 4kW in an hour.