TECH NEWS – AI expert says every ChatGPT query uses a lot of water!

ChatGPT was recently reported to have over 300 million users per week. This is according to Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, and the number is almost certainly growing. While this is good news for the company, it is not so good news for the environment: one AI expert said in his presentation that the rapid growth of generative (content-creating) AI will have a devastating impact on the environment!

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Kate Crawford, recently named to Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in AI, said in a talk at the State Library of Victoria, Australia, that AI is permanently reshaping the planet. Climate change is unstoppable, he said, so reducing carbon emissions around the world should be a priority.

“We’re under enormous pressure to try to decarbonize by mid-century, and if we don’t, we’re looking at the kind of spiraling planetary impacts that will affect all of us. You can’t outrun climate change. So even for tech billionaires, this should be an issue that we should all be able to get behind because, frankly, we just don’t have the time to waste building systems that use as much energy and create carbon footprints as entire industrialized nations. This is not the time to do that. We’re wasting a lot of water with these systems, and very few people realize that it’s a big problem. That’s why I personally think the No. 1 priority for the sector should be sustainability. Not the AI race,” Crawford said.

According to Crawford, each ChatGPT query uses about half a liter of water, and clean water is in short supply. Indeed, ChatGPT has started a huge revolution, and Crawford says that while we can see why generative AI is useful, its downsides should not be ignored.

The question is how much her warning will be heeded…

Source: WCCFTech, The Sydney Morning Herald