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.
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.
What exactly do you get for that power though?
The point is that it’s too much power for little gain in return.
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.
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.
The average (US suburban 2200sq ft) home’s A/C does consume 4kW while it is cycled on, and in the hotter than normal months of summer it can run continuous duty cycle for hours on end.
You need better insulation then. That’s crazy. Also outdoor blinds.
Me, personally, we have trees and shade. So many subdivisions don’t, and they have dark colored roofs, and then homeowners do bone-headed things like adding “sun rooms” - lots of those in Houston.
We get upset when our electric bill passes $300 for the month, but our neighbors with the 3500 sq ft? They never see it under $400.