The technology we use has an impact on the environment, and that impact is increasing with artificial intelligence (AI).
In Google’s 2024 environmental report, the company reported that their data centers consumed 6.1 billion gallons of water, which is a 17% increase from the previous year. Google attributes this increase to “the expansion of AI products and services.” Over 30% of the freshwater Google withdrew in 2023 came from watersheds with medium or high levels of water scarcity.
AI requires a lot of water because data centers need it to keep cool, and sometimes water is also used to help generate the vast amounts of electrical power needed to fuel the information networks.
In the fall of 2024, researchers from the University of California, Riverside teamed up with the Washington Post to help people understand how much water ChatGPT needs to write a 100-word email. They found that it took a little more than one 16.9-ounce bottle of water for ChatGPT (using GPT-4) to write a 100-word email.
This adds up. If 16 million people used ChatGPT once a week to write a 100-word email for a year, this would use up 435,235,476 liters of water.
