Byte Tank

Pedro Lopes Notes

3,170× More Energy to Create GPT‑4 Than an 18‑year‑old

The average human body consumes energy at a rate of approximately 100 watts

  • 1 day consumption = 100W * 24h = 2.4k Wh
  • 365 days * 2.4k Wh * 18 years = 15,768k Wh = 0.015768 GWh

GPT-4 took about 50 GWh of electricity to train.

It takes 3,170 times more energy to train a model than to raise a human to 18 years old.

GPT-4 is really good at specific tasks, but is nowhere near as generically inteligent or able to function efficiently and adaptively within the real world. GPT-4 can’t even drive a car.

This suggests that just scaling existing models will not be enough to reach real AGI. New fundamental breakthroughs are still required to get there.