Large Language Models (LLMs) are a powerful technology that augment human skill to create new opportunities, akin to the development of steam engines and the internet. However, LLMs come with a high cost. They require significant computing resources and energy to train and serve. Inequity in their control and access has led to concentration of ownership and power to a small collection of corporations. In our study, we collect training and inference requirements for various LLMs. We then analyze the economic strengths of nations and organizations in the context of developing and serving these models. Additionally, we also look at whether individuals around the world can access and use this emerging technology. We compare and contrast these groups to show that these technologies are monopolized by a surprisingly few entities. We conclude with a qualitative study on the ethical implications of our findings and discuss future directions towards equity in LLM access.

翻译：大型语言模型（LLMs）是一种增强人类技能、创造新机遇的强大技术，类似于蒸汽机和互联网的发展。然而，LLMs成本高昂，训练和部署需要大量的计算资源和能源。在其控制与获取方面的不平等，导致所有权和权力集中在少数企业手中。在我们的研究中，我们收集了各种LLMs的训练和推理需求，分析了国家和组织在开发与部署这些模型背景下的经济实力。此外，我们还考察了全球个人能否获取并使用这一新兴技术。通过对比这些群体，我们发现这些技术被极少数实体垄断。最后，我们进行了一项关于研究结果伦理影响的定性研究，并讨论了实现LLM获取公平性的未来方向。