How Much Energy Does A ChatGPT Query Use? Sam Altman Reveals

ChatGPT has almost become a part of daily life for active AI users. Even if not all are using it for professional work, almost all netizens are using it for some other personal use. As ChatGPT, along with several other AI tools, has slowly peeked into our lives, many users have questions regarding its energy. Quite weird, but Sam Altman did answer it too! Also Read: OpenAI Confirms Adult-Only ChatGPT With Custom Personalities And Erotic Conversations

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently addressed this in a blog post, sharing some interesting numbers about the environmental impact of a single ChatGPT query. According to Altman, the average query uses about 0.34 watt-hours of electricity. To put that in perspective, that’s roughly the same amount of energy your oven would use in just over a second, or what a high-efficiency lightbulb consumes in a couple of minutes. Also Read: Forget ChatGPT And Gemini Nano Banana! Microsoft Launches MAI-Image-1 - The In House Text-To-Image Tool

ChatGPT Query Energy Usage

It’s not just electricity that powers ChatGPT—water plays a role, too. Altman shared that one query uses about 0.000085 gallons of water, which is approximately one-fifteenth of a teaspoon. This water is mainly used to help cool the data centres where AI models run. Also Read: UPI Meets ChatGPT: India Tests AI-Powered E-Commerce Payments Via OpenAI Partnership

While each query’s water use seems almost too small to matter, the real concern is the total number of queries happening every day. With millions of users around the world, that tiny impact can add up.

wrote a new post, the gentle singularity.

realized it may be the last one like this i write with no AI help at all.

(proud to have written “From a relativistic perspective, the singularity happens bit by bit, and the merge happens slowly” the old-fashioned way)

— Sam Altman (@sama) June 10, 2025

Why This Matters To Users?

Altman’s blog comes at a time when the environmental cost of AI is getting more attention. Some researchers are already warning that AI’s energy demands could soon match or even exceed those of cryptocurrency mining.

This has led to growing pressure for companies like OpenAI to be more transparent about how their models are run and the infrastructure behind them. Altman seems to agree, noting that the cost of AI will likely become more tied to electricity prices as the technology advances.