ChatGPT, a leading AI-based platform, is used by millions of people around the world for knowledge and answers to various queries. While these platforms and technologies can provide answers in a mere few seconds, a lot of resources go into making it possible. According to a recent report on IndiaTimes, a research conducted at the University of Colorado Riverside and the University of Texas Arlington reveals a rather shocking fact – ChatGPT requires 700,301 litres of water to train GPT-3 alone. This is the same amount of water required to cool a nuclear reactor!
ChatGPT is not alone in having such a humongous water footprint. Every query it answers requires 500ml of water. This might not seem like much, but combined, the collective water footprint might be enormous, especially when considered with the billions of users that use this AI-based tool every day.
In light of such huge water consumption, AI companies need to pay attention to their ‘water footprint’ and should strive to reduce their water consumption and make an effort to maintain water sustainability.
In addition to equipment design, companies can look at strategies such as co-managing water resources, improving water use efficiency, and cooling systems for their data centers. Companies should also focus on their virtual water trade, granting access to clean drinking water and working closely to determine suitable water policies.
The findings of the Making AI Less Thirsty paper has reignited the discussion on the water usage of such companies and the need to adopt water sustainability practices. The paper was authored by Shuyuan Mary Ho, Atish Agrawal, Sneha Nagabandi, Jessica F. Baker, and Eliot Gutman – all computer science researchers.
ChatGPT is owned by the company OpenAI, an AI research laboratory promoted by tech industry pioneers, including Elon Musk, Reid Hoffman, and Greg Brockman. The company’s objective is to develop friendly Artificial Intelligence (AI) that would benefit humanity as a whole, and its projects have received support from Microsoft and the NVIDIA Corporation, among other tech companies. OpenAI recently announced its “Synthetic Natural Language Processing” project, which is a tool aimed at helping advance AI technologies.
