Photo credit: www.entrepreneur.com
OpenAI’s operational costs for maintaining its AI services have reached significant levels, driven in part by user interactions. Recently, CEO Sam Altman disclosed that the company’s electricity expenses have surged “tens of millions of dollars” due to the polite behavior exhibited by users when engaging with ChatGPT.
This revelation came in response to a post on X, where a user queried the financial impact of users thanking and politely interacting with the AI models. The post garnered substantial attention, with millions of views, prompting Altman to declare that the costs associated with this politeness are “well spent.”
According to a February survey conducted by Future, a notable 67% of AI users in the United States reported that they engage politely with chatbots. Among these, nearly 18% admitted to using polite language as a precautionary measure against a potential AI uprising. The majority, however, indicated that they simply believe in the virtue of politeness, treating AI with the same respect as they would humans.
Experts point out that the practice of politeness may enhance user experiences with AI systems. Kurtis Beavers, a design director at Microsoft, emphasizes that the tone of language used can significantly influence the responses generated by AI. When users approach the AI with respect, they are likely to receive courteous responses in return.
While this polite interaction has its benefits, it also incurs high energy costs. An analysis from The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) indicates that posing questions to ChatGPT consumes ten times more energy compared to executing a regular Google search without the augmentations provided by AI.
Research by financial advisory site BestBrokers further highlights that ChatGPT’s annual electricity consumption averages around 1.059 billion kilowatt-hours, which translates to approximately $139.7 million dedicated to energy expenses alone.
Water consumption is another critical aspect, as AI systems require substantial amounts of water to cool their operational servers. Data from the University of California, Riverside reveals that generating a 100-word email with ChatGPT can use up to 1,408 milliliters of water—equivalent to roughly three standard-sized bottles. Producing a simple response like “You are welcome” depletes 40 to 50 milliliters of water.
Despite these mounting costs, OpenAI appears well-positioned financially to absorb the expenses. This month, the company successfully raised $40 billion, achieving a staggering valuation of $300 billion, marking it as the largest private tech deal ever. With this backing, OpenAI now boasts an impressive 500 million users each week, a significant increase from the 400 million reported in February.
Source
www.entrepreneur.com