Index/ChatGPT

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Design38 min
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ChatGPT

A billion people a week type a message and watch the answer stream back, and every one of those answers occupies a GPU for its whole length.

What they’re really testing: Every reply holds GPU memory for as long as it streams, and GPUs are the one resource you can't add by the weekend. How do you keep the first token under a second for a million streams in flight, and degrade the free tier before any paid reply stutters?

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What’s inside

  • Primary concepts and the hard part
  • Requirements
  • API / Model
  • High-level architecture
  • Trade-offs and deep dives
  • Possible follow-up questions