'Energy': Sam Altman names AI's biggest bottleneck as per-query power falls but demand surges

Speaking at ADIPEC in Abu Dhabi, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the energy needed for each AI query is falling dramatically, but usage is exploding, leaving physical power supply as the dominant constraint on AI.

Asked in a quick-fire round what challenge he faces today, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman answered with one word: "Energy." Speaking Monday, Nov. 2, at the opening of the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC), Altman said AI is getting far more efficient, but people keep finding more ways to use it.

"The energy per query is falling incredibly dramatically. We're just delivering huge efficiency gains," he said. "On the other hand, as we make it more efficient, people just want to use it much more."

Altman said the AI industry and the energy industry have "an obligation to society" to meet that demand. Costs can fall "in almost every way, except, you know, atoms are still atoms," he said, calling power "the very dominant factor" in how much AI the world can use, and said he hopes AI will ultimately deliver a net gain in global energy availability.

From 100,000 tokens to 500 billion

To illustrate the surge, Altman said OpenAI's heaviest internal user consumed about 100,000 tokens a month six years ago. That is now roughly the global per-capita average, he said, while the top user consumes about 500 billion.

Sam Altman in conversation with The National's Mina Al-Oraibi at ADIPEC

'Mostly smarter' than top scientists

Altman, interviewed on stage by The National's editor-in-chief Mina Al-Oraibi, also said AI has gone from trailing the world's best scientists at the start of the year to mostly outperforming them, and can now handle many parts of white-collar jobs.

He said he believes society will "navigate through this all fine," but insisted people must stay in control. "There should not be a handoff to AI," he said, adding that the industry will increasingly need to show it can prevent serious safety and alignment incidents. OpenAI announced partnerships with Abu Dhabi oil giant ADNOC and technology group G42 at the event, which ADNOC described as the first deployment of OpenAI's frontier models by an energy company.

'Energy': Sam Altman names AI's biggest bottleneck as per-query power falls but demand surges