As you can tell from the previous answers: It depends.
The bigger an LLM is, the more power it uses. AI models can be quantized or distilled to yield smaller but less capable models. Providers may try to route you to the cheapest model that can handle your prompt.
Another question is the length of the output. The length of the input matters less but might be relevant for processing long texts.
The energy used for training is relatively insignificant once you average it over its lifetime. The energy efficiency of a particular data center will certainly matter more.
Providers like OpenAI claim that the typical query uses about 0.3Wh. That’s about the same as an idling phone charger uses in an hour; ie charger plugged into the outlet but not into the phone.
As you can tell from the previous answers: It depends.
The bigger an LLM is, the more power it uses. AI models can be quantized or distilled to yield smaller but less capable models. Providers may try to route you to the cheapest model that can handle your prompt.
Another question is the length of the output. The length of the input matters less but might be relevant for processing long texts.
The energy used for training is relatively insignificant once you average it over its lifetime. The energy efficiency of a particular data center will certainly matter more.
Providers like OpenAI claim that the typical query uses about 0.3Wh. That’s about the same as an idling phone charger uses in an hour; ie charger plugged into the outlet but not into the phone.