Large amounts of water are used to train and operate ChatGPT, and the AI needs about 500 milliliters of it for a conversation that typically includes a few dozen prompts (or requests). The exact value depends, among other things, on the location of the request.
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A research group determined this value months ago, but there are now further indications of the resource consumption associated with AI development. Microsoft has made it public that the group’s water consumption jumped by 34 percent (to 6.4 million m³) last year, while Google saw an increase of 20 percent.
High water consumption in summer
In a recent report by the AP news agency, the focus is now on Microsoft’s data centers in West Des Moines, Iowa. The group has set up a facility there for training the AI technology of OpenAI and has thus found a comparatively cheap location. As long as it is not warmer than 29.3 degrees Celsius, the system can be cooled with ambient air, writes AP. But if it gets warmer, water must be used, and not too little. In July 2022, Microsoft accounted for 6 percent of the water used throughout the district. Almost 70,000 people live in the city of West Des Moines alone. In the same year, the waterworks informed Microsoft that they only wanted to connect future data centers if the maximum amount of water removed was “significantly” reduced.
Because Microsoft and its competitors in the development of AI systems do not provide any more precise information on the associated resource consumption, Shaolei Ren from the University of California is trying to determine it differently. He determined the average water consumption per ChatGPT request for a scientific paper that has not yet been published. Most people are not aware of how many resources are used for ChatGPT & Co., AP quotes him as saying. But if you don’t know consumption, you can’t help limit it. Microsoft and OpenAI have stated that they want to continue to monitor consumption and push forward savings measures. By 2030, less water should be consumed than returned.
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