ChatGPT’s really bad impact on the environment. New reports claim that ChatGPT is having a really bad and negative impact on the environment overall as the artificial intelligence tool is said to be drinking too much water.
ChatGPT’s Impact on the Environment
Many of us have been just too quick and fast to adopt the latest AI tools, particularly in the workplace where we are interacting with generative AI on an almost daily basis If not almost, but I however just wonder how many of us have given thought to the dark secret that is behind this time-saving tech.
Very much like cloud computing and cloud storage, running the computers that reportedly help to train artificial intelligence requires almost immeasurable quantities of resources, and it now seems that one of its most egregious consumptions in question is water.
And right now, the Associated Press reports research is underway into the environmental impacts and effects that are associated with making use of ChatGPT, and has already found that the chatbot makes use of approximately 500ml of water to reportedly process between five to 50 prompts.
How AI Tools Are Affecting the Environment
While the computers in question that form the foundation of the AI tools that we know and love today are incredibly power-hungry, intense work has already gone into making their components quite as efficient as possible while giving out the maximum performance, and that work in question continues.
Something that is really much difficult to alleviate is the heat that is generated by the hardware, which as you should know requires constant cooling. And in the case of data centers as well as HPC across the world, water cooling remains one of the most common as well as effective methods of keeping temperatures low, but this very one in question comes at a cost, at most times putting local populations (of both people and wildlife) at risk and even in some cases, causing the reported rerouting of water courses.
Several Reports on Water Consumption over the Years
The reporting from Microsoft shows a 34% year-on-year increase in water consumption for the year 2022, and with its fast investment in AI in most recent months, this is a figure that could well grow even further by the time Redmond gets to release its next report. Google has also noted a 22% increase in its water consumption for the year 2022, which is very much similar to the year prior to that, too, but however up from 10% for the year 2020.
OpenAI’s Reaction to the Findings
TechRadar Pro asked OpenAI, which in case you don’t know is the company that is behind the headline-grabbing ChatGPT, to help share its thoughts on the environmental situation that is caused by making use of such technologies, but the company in question did not respond to the request immediately.
How Companies and Workers Can Play Their Role in Making the Environment Safe
And in the meantime, refraining from making use of power-hungry resources when they are not totally really necessary is a very responsible way for businesses as well as their workers to play their very own role in the cutback.
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