Is ChatGPT Bad For The Planet? New Study Suggests It’s ’Drinking’ A Bottle Of Fresh Water For Every 20 Questions
ChatGPT may be a great tool for research, but it could come at a huge cost to our environment.
A new study revealed that for every 20 to 50 questions ChatGPT is asked, it “drinks” a bottle of fresh water.
OpenAI’s AI chatbot has exploded in popularity, with billions of active users, thanks to its excellent ability to answer questions, from coding to scientific answers to entire essays.
However, its environmental impact, like other AI technologies, is not fully known.
New research from the University of Colorado Riverside and the University of Texas Arlington in the US had shed light on its water consumption. However, it is important to note that the research has not yet been peer-reviewed and has been shared ahead of its publication.
But how does a technology like ChatGPT “drink” water?
The study looked at freshwater consumption used by data centres to generate electricity and cool the racks of thousands of servers it needs to operate.
During a 20 to 50-question conversation with the AI chatbot, researchers estimated that it could “drink” a 500ml bottle of water.
“While a 500ml bottle of water might not seem too much, the total combined water footprint for inference is still extremely large, considering ChatGPT’s billions of users,” they said.
It is believed that while training GPT-3 Microsoft may have consumed an astounding 700,000 litres of water.
While the amount of water needed to train the latest version GPT-4 is not yet known, the fresh data is ranking up pressure on global companies to overhaul their water consumption in the face of the climate crisis.
Would you stop using ChatGPT for the planet?
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