Cooling the ChatGPT servers consumes four times more water than claimed

Scientists from the University of California conducted a study that showed that the use of various models of artificial intelligence (AI) can negatively affect the Earth’s ecology. The study found that processing 10 to 50 requests in ChatGPT and similar AI systems requires up to two liters of water to cool the servers, while half a liter was previously thought to be sufficient for these purposes.

Microsoft has confirmed that cooling equipment requires more water than expected, and in 2023 and 2024, companies such as Microsoft, Google and Meta reported increases in water consumption of 22.5%, 17% and 17% respectively. Although the data was collected only in the US, the problem is likely to affect other AI models around the world.

At the moment, it is not clear how to solve this problem, but experts emphasize that the use of AI is in its infancy and will grow rapidly. Failure to take steps to improve server cooling could lead to a major environmental disaster. At the same time, it is worth noting that more than 250 million people use ChatGPT every week.