The Most 'AI-Enslaved' Human Behaviour Revealed, ChatGPT Boss Left Embarrassed

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - OpenAI employees have long been known as the most ‘profligate’ users of tokens for the artificial intelligence (AI) services offered by the ChatGPT creator. However, it turns out the person holding the record for the most token usage is not an internal employee, but someone from outside the company. The identity of this most AI-enslaved person was revealed directly by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman at an internal company event held last Tuesday. Altman compared the development of AI token usage now with six years ago, before ChatGPT was released. Back then, a figure of 100,000 tokens per month was considered very high. ‘At that time, that level of usage most likely made that person the largest token user in the entire world,’ said Altman. However, as time has passed and the use of AI has expanded, that standard has completely changed. ‘Now, 6.5 years later, the figure of 100,000 tokens has become the average usage per person in the world,’ Altman said. He added that currently, the largest token user even within the OpenAI environment has reached 100 billion tokens per month. That enormous usage figure apparently still pales in comparison to someone who does not work at OpenAI. According to Altman, this reality embarrasses him 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 OpenAI, a culture of massive token usage is already commonplace. The company has a token usage leaderboard, and employees often flaunt their usage figures on the social media platform X. Some circulating data even shows far more fantastic numbers. Peter Steinberger, creator of OpenClaw, once recorded usage worth US$1.3 million (Rp 23.47 billion) in a single month. He also once displayed a screenshot showing usage reaching 603 billion tokens in 30 days. The New York Times once reported that an OpenAI employee consumed 210 billion tokens in just one week. On the other hand, several other companies are taking steps to suppress token usage to economise. Amazon is reportedly shutting down its token usage leaderboard. Meanwhile, Uber has reportedly imposed usage limits, after a senior company official stated that the cost of AI use is becoming increasingly difficult to justify. Altman also 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. All parties felt very satisfied with their expenditure,’ he recalled. The situation has now completely changed, so the cost of AI usage has become a major problem that must be addressed. Altman emphasised that OpenAI continues to strive to develop AI models and find new ways for users to get greater benefits at a lower cost. Deputy Minister of Communication and Digital Affairs (Komdigi) Nezar Patria advised on the proper way to use artificial intelligence. Do not become a slave to AI, but rather make the technology a partner that helps with our work. ‘Make AI our partner, but not our master. We should not become slaves to AI, but rather make AI our partner to help with our work,’ said Nezar at the Jogja Financial Festival event in Yogyakarta on Friday (22/5/2026). On the same occasion, Nezar also spoke about the increasingly rapid development of AI. Starting from ChatGPT launched in 2022, it has now shifted to Agentic AI. It will not take long, it seems, for AI to move to physical AI. This is when AI is used in robotics. ‘And next year or perhaps within the next two years we will already be talking about physical AI where Agentic AI is then applied with robotic technology, so physical AI,’ he said. Nezar gave examples of intelligent robots assisting with daily human tasks, such as cooking, being a fitness instructor, or even becoming a traffic police officer.