Hub Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence is either a field of research, the most important technical innovation of mankind, its downfall – or simply a pipe dream from Silicon Valley. Can machines really be intelligent? What is intelligence anyway? What opportunities does AI technology offer, and what are the risks? From neural networks to the science fiction vision of super AI, from deepfakes to AI surveillance: THE DECODER delivers the latest AI news and information on all facets of artificial intelligence.
In a romanticized essay on the supposedly imminent singularity, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman mentions an interesting fact about ChatGPT's energy consumption: a single ChatGPT request consumes an average of 0.34 watt-hours of power and 0.000085 gallons of water. That energy usage is roughly on par with what a Google search consumed back in 2009, but Altman excludes the fact that ChatGPT is likely handling far more requests per person. And with new AI models like multimodal systems, agents, and advanced reasoning engines demanding even more compute, the rapid expansion of data centers suggests the overall energy appetite of these systems is only increasing.
OpenAI is delaying its first open-weight language model since GPT-2 until later this summer, CEO Sam Altman said on X. Originally planned for release before the end of June, the model will include reasoning capabilities. Altman said the research team made unexpected progress that now requires more time, calling the result "very worth the wait." The model was first announced in April.
Disney and Universal have filed a joint lawsuit against AI image generator Midjourney for allegedly creating unauthorized images of characters like Darth Vader and the Minions. The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court in California, accuses Midjourney of repeatedly copying copyrighted material despite previous requests from the studios to stop. Both companies are seeking damages, a jury trial, and an order to prevent future use of protected characters. Reported cases of such copyright issues date back to 2023. Midjourney has not responded publicly.
"Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism."
From the complaint
ChatGPT kept its lead in May with 5.49 billion visits, according to new data from Similarweb. Google Gemini saw the biggest growth, up 28.9% to 527.7 million visits. Claude rose 4.2% to 99.7 million, while Perplexity grew 12.1% to 178.6 million. Deepseek dropped 9.15% to 436.2 million, and Grok fell 8.92% to 178.6 million. Gemini surpassed ChatGPT in mobile app downloads for the first time in April and May.

Google's Veo 3 video generator now includes a faster option, Veo 3 Fast, which more than doubles the speed of the previous model at 720p resolution, according to Google's Josh Woodward. The update is already available in both the Gemini app and Flow. For Gemini Pro users, the daily limit has increased to three new video generations—up from the earlier single ten-credit pack—while Flow Pro users are charged 20 credits per video. Gemini and Flow Ultra subscribers continue to receive higher quality and more generations on their existing plans. Google is testing additional features like picture-to-video with voice input. The company also plans to expand Veo 3 Fast to more countries and make it available for Workspace accounts.