Does ChatGPT Waste Water? Here's the AI's Response to The Times' Claims

Berfin Ceren Meray
Onedio Member
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Artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming an integral part of our daily lives, with experts predicting it will soon be indispensable. Huge investments and brilliant minds are driving the development of AI models, but a recent claim has left many wondering—does ChatGPT use water? After The Times raised concerns about the environmental impact of AI, ChatGPT responded, but was it enough to calm the growing skepticism? 

Let’s dive into the controversy surrounding AI’s water consumption and what ChatGPT had to say.

The ChatGPT developed by OpenAI has become a pioneer in artificial intelligence.

The AI chatbot, ChatGPT, allowed millions of people to experience artificial intelligence for the first time. Within just a few months, ChatGPT began offering users a variety of different features as it improved. Many tech companies followed OpenAI after its success.

The latest breakthrough in artificial intelligence came from China, with the launch of DeepSeek.

The DeepSeek AI chatbot, which offers the same features as ChatGPT for free, quickly became popular among users. Additionally, it was revealed that DeepSeek’s costs were much lower. However, some countries have started banning DeepSeek due to security concerns.

The computers running artificial intelligence research might require much more energy than you might think.

In an article published in October, The Times claimed that the massive computers powering ChatGPT needed four times more water than previously thought to deliver its responses.

Does ChatGPT consume water? According to The Times, YES!

Experts at the University of California in Riverside stated that the chatbot uses 2 liters of water for an average of 50 queries. Technology companies developing powerful AI systems use water in cooling, power production, and chip manufacturing. In a paper released by Microsoft in September, it was stated, 'The energy consumption of GPT-3 will be at least four times higher than what we currently use. This also means that the water footprint should increase fourfold.'

"Such a claim may technically be somewhat misleading."

We also asked the question, 'Is it true that ChatGPT consumes an average of 2 liters of water per 50 queries?' The response we received was as follows: 'Such a claim may technically be somewhat misleading. AI models like ChatGPT do not consume water directly, as they are not physical entities. 

However, such claims might be based on indirect factors like the energy consumption of the servers operating in data centers and the cooling systems of those centers. Data centers use electricity to run large AI systems, and various resources are used in electricity production. 

The environmental impact of this energy usage could include indirect effects like water consumption for cooling systems. However, there is no concrete scientific data on specific water consumption like '2 liters per 50 queries.' 

This type of claim may be a generalization based on estimates or statistics. As a result, while ChatGPT itself does not consume water directly, the energy consumption of these systems and their environmental impact could have side effects like water consumption.'