How Much Water and Energy Does ChatGPT Use? Sam Altman Breaks Down the Numbers

With everything now incorporated into AI, numerous people are starting to wonder about the real cost to the environment of tools such as ChatGPT.

In a Tuesday blog post, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman attempted to put those worries to rest, providing unprecedented glimpses into the energy and water consumption of a single ChatGPT question.

AI Energy Consumption: What a ChatGPT Query Really Uses

How Much Water and Energy Does ChatGPT Use? Sam Altman

Altman states that the typical ChatGPT request consumes approximately 0.34 watt-hours of electricity. Put into perspective, that is roughly the amount of electricity used by an oven in more than one second, or what a high-efficiency bulb would use in two minutes.

Altman assumed that with continued advancements in AI tech, the cost of intelligence may one day "converge to near the cost of electricity." This is the salient point of a grander vision where AI is more accessible and less expensive, albeit with environmental consequences hanging over the horizon.

How Much Water Does AI Use? A Teaspoon's Worth Per Query

Perhaps the most astonishing statistic presented was regarding water usage. Sam Altman pointed out that a single ChatGPT query consumes around 0.000085 gallons of water—"about one-fifteenth of a teaspoon." Although this sounds infinitesimally small, the combined effect of billions of queries daily makes a difference.

According to The Verge, water is consumed by AI data centers to cool servers, and though the amount per query might sound negligible, the issue is raising eyebrows as AI usage accelerates exponentially.

AI vs. Bitcoin: Energy Consumption Issues Escalate

AI's energy and carbon footprint has already prompted international discourse. Just over the summer, researchers forecast that AI would outpace Bitcoin mining in terms of energy consumption sometime in 2025. It's AI's dirty secret that it can increase global energy use gradually.

While Bitcoin has been criticized for decades for its voracious energy appetite, AI's application crosses industries and sectors almost universally; healthcare, education, and entertainment, and its cost to the environment is, therefore, more difficult to dismiss.

Water Usage Differing By Data Center Location

Compounding the discussion is that water consumption isn't equal across all AI services. In an investigative report, The Washington Post indicated that the amount of water required for a 100-word AI-composed email via GPT-4 would fill over one water bottle.

The report further stated that the calculation can also fluctuate depending on where a data center is placed, with regional climate and cooling systems playing a significant role in total usage.