OpenAI: 100 Billion Tokens, But a Rival Spends More

At a recent event, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, revealed that the primary internal user of tokens at OpenAI consumes 100 billion tokens per month. However, this impressive figure is not the highest in the world, as an external individual surpasses this consumption, which constitutes a "personal embarrassment" for Altman.

Token management has become a major challenge for OpenAI, where employees are known for their high spending. Peter Steinberger, creator of OpenClaw, for example, spent $1.3 million on tokens in a single month. A screenshot even shows a spending of 603 billion tokens in 30 days by an employee.

Historically, six and a half years ago, the top token user at OpenAI consumed 100,000 tokens per month, which was then considered the highest in the world. Today, this consumption has become the global standard, while the internal leader reaches 100 billion tokens monthly.

OpenAI has developed a culture of token spending, with an internal leaderboard and employees sharing their totals on X. However, other companies like Amazon and Uber are taking steps to limit these expenses by shutting down their leaderboards or imposing caps.

Altman emphasized that the costs associated with AI have suddenly become a "huge problem," whereas at the beginning of 2026, expenses were not a major concern. Now, the company is looking to optimize its models to provide more value with less spending.