this post was submitted on 15 Aug 2025
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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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[–] IrateAnteater@sh.itjust.works 0 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

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.

[–] dan@upvote.au 2 points 13 hours ago

In the end, it still means their losses are greater than their profits.

They've still got taxes they need to pay, too - things like payroll taxes, real estate taxes, etc.