To reply query one, researchers created a case research they known as the GPT-5 bundle, which they mentioned included all of OpenAI’s choices accessible throughout GPT-5’s lifetime because the flagship mannequin, together with GPT-5 and GPT-5.1, GPT-4o, ChatGPT, and the API, and estimated the income from and prices of operating the bundle. All numbers gathered had been primarily based on sources of knowledge that included claims by OpenAI and its employees, and reporting by media retailers, primarily The Info, CNBC, and the Wall Avenue Journal.
The income estimate, they mentioned, “is comparatively easy”. For the reason that bundle included all of OpenAI’s fashions, it was the corporate’s complete income over GPT-5’s lifetime from August to December final yr: $6.1 billion.
And, they identified, “at first look, $6.1 billion sounds wholesome, till you juxtapose it with the prices of operating the GPT-5 bundle.” These prices come from 4 principal sources, the report mentioned, the primary of which is inference compute at a value of $3.2 billion. That quantity is predicated on public estimates of OpenAI’s complete inference compute spend in 2025, and assumes that the allocation of compute throughout GPT-5’s tenure was proportional to the fraction of the yr’s income generated in that interval.
