OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has pushed back against growing public concerns regarding the water consumption of artificial intelligence technologies, likening the water usage of 38,000 ChatGPT queries to that of a single almond. Altman made the remarks during a recent appearance on the "Sources" podcast, where he addressed what he described as a "robust meme" about data center water usage.
"It is true that data centers at one point used evaporative cooling, but they have not done that in a long time," Altman said. "Like if you look at a modern, very large data center, it uses, like, the equivalent amount of water as an office building in terms of people, you know, running the sinks and the toilets and whatever."
Altman’s comparison suggests that a single query uses approximately 0.3 milliliters of water, a figure he has cited previously. This equates to roughly 3,800 queries using the same amount of water as one almond. While almonds are known for being water-intensive crops, especially in drought-prone California, the exact calculation for AI water usage remains a subject of debate. According to the Almond Board of California, a single almond requires about one gallon of water from planting to harvest, including the water needed for the entire tree.
His comments come amid increasing scrutiny of the environmental impact of AI. Communities around the United States have protested the development of large, power-hungry data centers, citing issues like noise, light, and water pollution. In one instance, residents of Fayetteville, Georgia, reported water pressure issues during a drought after a new data center reportedly consumed 30 million gallons of water. In Morgan County, Georgia, a Meta data center was also cited for water quality issues, though it was suggested this may have been related to construction.
Meanwhile, the demand for AI services continues to grow. OpenAI reported last summer that ChatGPT was handling 2.5 billion user prompts daily. The company and others in the tech sector are also developing AI agents, which are more complex and require significantly more computational resources than chatbots.
Former President Donald Trump has encouraged the embrace of data centers, arguing that communities rejecting them risk economic stagnation. The discussion around AI's environmental footprint, particularly its water and energy demands, is expected to continue as the technology becomes more integrated into various industries.