OpenAI’s CEO States Company is ‘Out of GPUs’

OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, recently shared that the company is having difficulties with the rollout of its newest model, GPT-4.5, because they don’t have enough GPUs (graphic processing units), which are essential for running AI systems. In a post on X, Altman explained that this latest version of their AI is quite large and costly, and that they will need “tens of thousands” more GPUs before they can provide access to more ChatGPT users. Initially, GPT-4.5 will be available to ChatGPT Pro subscribers starting on Thursday, followed by ChatGPT Plus users the following week.

Due to its significant size, GPT-4.5 comes with a hefty price tag. OpenAI is charging $75 for every million tokens (which is roughly 750,000 words) that users input into the model. When it generates tokens, it will cost users $150 for the same amount. This pricing is significantly higher than what they charged for their previous model, GPT-4, which had input costs 30 times lower and output costs 15 times lower.

Some users have reacted to the pricing, expressing that it’s a bit extreme. One such user noted on social media that if the high costs don’t lead to remarkable improvements in model performance, they would be disappointed.

Altman acknowledged the GPU shortage in his post, stating that OpenAI has been experiencing rapid growth which has led to this lack of available GPUs. He mentioned that they will acquire the necessary GPUs next week and will start making the service available to Plus subscribers afterward. He admitted that this situation is not ideal and pointed out the challenge of accurately predicting spikes in demand for their services, which can cause shortages.

In the past, Altman has mentioned that limited computing power has been holding back the release of some of OpenAI’s products. To address this issue in the future, the company plans to develop its own AI chips and build a large network of data centers, which will help improve their capabilities and support the demand for their advanced AI services. Overall, it seems that while OpenAI is making strides in AI development, they are facing some growing pains as they work to keep up with the rapid rise in interest and usage of their technology.