OpenAI Raises GPT-5 Usage Cap Amid Energy Consumption Concerns

OpenAI has temporarily increased rate limits for its reasoning models, including GPT-5, to accommodate rising user engagement, though free-tier users may experience some feature limitations amid operational cost concerns. GPT-5, launched in August 2025, offers advanced capabilities such as real-time reasoning and PhD-level scientific responses but has sparked significant debate over its substantial energy consumption. Independent research indicates GPT-5's energy use during inference can reach up to 40 watts per medium-length response, representing a dramatic increase compared to earlier models like GPT-4o, which used about 0.34 watt-hours per query. Critics and environmentalists express concern about the environmental impact of such large AI models, highlighting the carbon footprint not only from electricity use but also from hardware manufacturing. OpenAI has not released detailed power consumption data since GPT-3, contributing to calls for greater transparency to better assess and mitigate AI's environmental effects. Despite these challenges, OpenAI continues to advance AI capabilities while attempting to balance user demand and sustainability issues.