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.

ChatGPT will never reach a final version; it will be updated periodically until the end of its days, so that it can satisfy any user request and, above all, any desire for prestige on the part of its creator. There is always room for improvement, as in any other field, but the development of artificial intelligence services requires considerably more resources than other projects.

According to The Guardian, the University of Rhode Island's artificial intelligence laboratory recently conducted tests on the power consumption of the updated version of the model in question. The results of this analysis highlighted a frightening increase in the energy consumed for a single query, equal to 18 Wh.

Considering the current use of the service, ChatGPT's daily consumption would amount to 45 GWh, a terrifying sum, considering that a modern nuclear power plant produces between 1 and 1.6 GW of electricity per reactor per hour. Therefore, just to power GPT-5, the equivalent power of two or three nuclear reactors would be required.