The Most 'AI-Enslaved' Human Behaviour Revealed, ChatGPT Boss Left Embarrassed
OpenAI employees have long been known as the most ‘prodigal’ users of the artificial intelligence (AI) tokens offered by the company behind ChatGPT. However, it turns out that the person holding the record for the highest token usage is not an internal employee, but someone from outside the company.
The identity of this extreme AI user was revealed directly by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman during an internal company event held last Tuesday.
Altman compared the development of AI token usage now to six years ago, before ChatGPT was released. At that time, a figure of 100,000 tokens per month was considered very high. “At that time, such usage would likely have made that person the highest token user in the entire world,” said Altman.
However, as time progresses and AI usage expands, that standard has changed completely. “Now, 6.5 years later, 100,000 tokens has become the average usage per person globally,” said Altman.
He added that currently, the highest token usage within the OpenAI environment has reached 100 billion tokens per month. This massive usage figure, however, is still far surpassed by someone who does not work at OpenAI.
According to Altman, this reality makes him feel embarrassed because OpenAI is the developer and provider of the AI service. Ideally, OpenAI employees should also be the most frequent users of their own products.
Within the OpenAI internal environment, a culture of high token usage has become common. The company maintains a token usage leaderboard, and employees often showcase their usage figures on the social media platform X. Some circulating data even shows even more fantastic figures. Peter Steinberger, the creator of OpenClaw, once recorded usage worth US$1.3 million (Rp 23.47 billion) in a single month. He also showcased screenshots showing usage reaching 603 billion tokens in 30 days. The New York Times previously reported that an OpenAI employee spent 210 billion tokens in just one week.
On the other hand, several other companies are taking steps to curb token usage to save costs. Amazon has reportedly closed its token usage leaderboard. Meanwhile, Uber has reportedly set usage limits after company executives stated that the cost of AI usage is becoming increasingly difficult to justify.
Altman acknowledged a major shift in AI consumption. According to him, the issue of cost-saving emerged suddenly. “At the beginning of 2026, this was never discussed at all. Everyone felt very satisfied with their spending,” he recalled. However, the situation has changed entirely, such that AI usage costs have become a major issue that must be addressed. Altman emphasised that OpenAI continues to strive to develop AI models and find new ways for users to gain greater benefits at a lower cost.
Indonesia’s Deputy Minister of Communication and Digital, Nezar Patria, advised on the proper way to use artificial intelligence. He suggested that users should not become slaves to AI, but rather use the technology as a partner to assist their work.
“Make AI our partner, but not our master. We must not allow ourselves to become slaves to AI, but rather how AI can become our partner to help our work,” Nezar said at the Jogja Financial Festival in Yogyakarta on Friday (22/5/2026).
On the same occasion, Nezar also spoke about the rapid development of AI. Starting from ChatGPT, which was launched in 2022, the technology has now transitioned to Agentic AI. It appears that it will not take long for AI to shift towards Physical AI, where AI is utilised in robotics.
“In the next year or perhaps in the next two years, we will be talking about Physical AI, where Agentic AI is then applied with robotic technology, resulting in Physical AI,” he said. Nezar cited examples of intelligent robots assisting humans in daily tasks, such as cooking, acting as fitness instructors, or even serving as traffic police.