Manners are not ruining the environment: The costs of training and running artificial intelligence model are massive. Even excluding everything but electricity, AI data centers burn through over $100 million a year to process user prompts and model outputs. So, does saying "please" and "thank you" to ChatGPT really cost OpenAI millions? Short answer: probably not.
The big picture: Only days ago we were reporting that ChatGPT's updated image generator was sparking a wave of Studio Ghibli-style recreations across social media. But the wave was just getting started and in mere days it hit the mainstream, becoming a full-blown fad. While CEO Sam Altman is celebrating the newfound attention, the massive growth in GPT's user base, and a fresh round of funding, the tool's explosive popularity is putting serious strain on OpenAI's infrastructure. Altman revealed that demand has been so intense it's been "melting" their GPUs.
What just happened? Donald Trump has announced that tech titans OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank are joining forces on a colossal $500 billion initiative dubbed "Project Stargate." According to the US president, the goal is to secure AI compute in the country and gain an edge against China, which has been rapidly advancing its own AI ambitions.
Recap: The tech world was shaken last November following OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's unceremonious firing. The official reasons for the move were vague, and Altman was reinstated as head of the firm a few days later. Now, former board members have given more details on what happened and why, including accusations that Altman cultivated "a toxic culture of lying" and engaged in "behavior [that] can be characterized as psychological abuse."