Sam Altman Predicts Global Average of 500B Tokens Per Month Within Six Years
rohanpaul_ai · x · 2026-08-09
At YC Startup School, Sam Altman shared the exponential growth trajectory of AI token usage. He noted that six and a half years ago, the world's top token consumer was an OpenAI employee using about 100,000 tokens monthly, while the global per capita average was near zero.
Today, the worldwide average is around 100,000 tokens per month, and OpenAI's internal leader uses hundreds of billions. He predicts that if the trend continues, in another six and a half years, the average person will consume roughly 500 billion tokens monthly, and the top user will reach quadrillions, becoming the new societal baseline.
Related event: Sam Altman Predicts Global Average of 500B Tokens Per Month in Six Years(2 posts)→
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