SCALING CHATGPT: FIVE REAL-WORLD ENGINEERING CHALLENGES

Summary from the TLDR Web Dev newsletter

100 million people were using ChatGPT weekly by November 2023. Scaling ChatGPT to such a large user base was not an easy feat. OpenAI faced a few key challenges when scaling: managing GPU RAM, avoiding cache misses, finding the right batch size, measuring the right metrics, and handling a shortage of GPUs. The company found that taking a system-wide approach to optimization and being adaptable in the face of changing constraints allowed it to scale efficiently. Many of the lessons learned are applicable to general software systems.