September 12, 2023

This February, I half-joked:

Waiting for headlines about how web searches are now sent through so many AI models the energy consumption is worse than crypto.

I was hoping that wasn’t true, but the data is starting to come in. Here’s one I saw (via Ethan):

In a paper due to be published later this year, Ren’s team estimates ChatGPT gulps up 500 milliliters of water (close to what’s in a 16-ounce water bottle) every time you ask it a series of between 5 to 50 prompts or questions. The range varies depending on where its servers are located and the season. The estimate includes indirect water usage that the companies don’t measure — such as to cool power plants that supply the data centers with electricity.

That’s ChatGPT usage directly, but both Microsoft and Google report steep increases (34% and 20%, respectively) in the 2021-2022 period, specifically because of AI.

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