Artificial Intelligence Drinks Too Much Water

Energy and water consumption are becoming one of the problems with AI. It is estimated that, between now and 2027, searches powered by artificial intelligence will burn through half the water of a country the size of Great Britain.

After its hunger for energy, artificial intelligence’s thirst for water has exploded, resulting in a lawsuit in Des Moines, Iowa. The address near the small town on Interstate 35 is not just another address; this is where ChatGPT-4 was literally “born”: The most advanced version emerging from OpenAI’s generative algorithm was trained right here, where Microsoft has amassed several of its data centers to take advantage of water from the Raccoon River. Records from the case reveal that AI consumes the same amount of water as 30,000 houses. This is not insignificant, given that Des Moines has 60,000 inhabitants. Neither is Kate Crawford, the person who revealed in the journal Nature how energy and water consumption are becoming AI’s Achille’s heel, just another name.

While there was already some suspicion, fed in part by Big Tech’s reluctance to give exact figures, Crawford’s word is proof: The professor, former director of research at the AI Now Institute at New York University, is, in fact, also a principal researcher at Microsoft Research. In other words, her research is also funded in part by OpenAI’s main backer.

It is estimated that, between now and 2027, searches using AI will burn through half the water of a country the size of Great Britain. Even today, for every 10-50 searches, ChatGPT guzzles one pint of water. Is there nothing we can do? Maybe there is: Why don’t we begin by trying to avoid asking AI useless, not to mention stupid, questions.