Current estimates say that every prompt you give a generative "AI" system— not each session, every PROMPT— is like pouring a 16 oz bottle of water onto the ground.
This is a fact that goes somewhere in every talk i give, now, & i always see audience members looking it up… and then looking horrified
Annoyed by articles that go into great detail about what companies say they're doing with so-called "A.I." but do not ask what companies are doing about the technology's ecological impact.
Now for ChatGPT in specific it can range anywhere from 5 questions to 50 to hit that level of water consumption; depends on the density of representation of associated tokens in the training data (how much it's been trained on stuff connected to your prompt); but before you think "maybe not so bad"…
…stop a sec to remember how ChatGPT is being woven into the bachground functionality of EVERY Microsoft product, such that it may well basically ALWAYS BE RUNNING.
We're not just talking about water for cooling servers, people. You need water to turn into steam to run turbines, too, and the more energy you need, the more water you use for that process.
