ChatGPT Making Branksome Thirsty

Did you know everytime you generate a 100 word paragraph from Chat GPT, it uses the equivalent of one bottle of water? This new statistic from the Washington Post has left me and my classmates stunned, causing us to rethink our increasing use of this seemingly innocuous tool. However, like many innovations that create convenience in our everyday lives, most notably the inventions of the car and the smartphone, there are many environmental considerations to keep in mind while using ChatGPT. 

Despite popular belief, AI does not just draw its quick and in depth answers from thin air. In fact, the “knowledge” that AI gathers gets stored in physical databases. Picture a warehouse containing hundreds of thousands of computer servers interpreting user patterns and designing code to generate the best answers to your questions. OpenAI, for example, which owns ChatGPT, houses all of its servers out of San Antonio, Texas. 

“So, how does this relate to water use?” you may ask. Well, the more these data centers are used, the more they heat up, so the systems need to be cooled…by water. Meaning, by using AI, you contribute unwittingly to an enormous loss of water. This can also mean ecosystem damage, increased pollution concentration, and altered climate patterns, ultimately impacting human health and food security. More investigation from the same researchers at the Washington Post found that training the GPT-3 large language model alone consumed about 700,000 litres of water, further underscoring the resource-intensive nature of AI technologies. 

Here’s another statistic: if one in ten working Americans (approximately 16 million people) uses ChatGPT weekly to send a single email, the total annual water consumption would reach around 435 million litres. This amount is roughly equivalent to the daily water usage of Rhode Island, USA, for one and a half days! These numbers may seem overwhelming, so I adapted them to Branksome to see how they  compare. If every Branksome student (approximately 900 people) used chat GPT to write a single 540 word essay, the total water used would amount to 2,430L. This is equivalent to our student body’s water consumption for an entire day!

With this information, I am not asking you to take your ChatGPT usage to a complete stop. This would just be unrealistic. We all need to get our math IA ideas from somewhere. But, I do believe we have a duty to remain conscious of some of the less obvious consequences of using ChatGPT. If that means using our own brain for more of our tasks (yes, I know, crazy) for the sake of our planet and health, it’s a sacrifice we should be willing to make. This may seem like a small contributor to our environmental troubles right now, but an added component to the climate crisis is not what the world needs. As simple as it sounds, just think next time you use Chat.

Bibliography

Study: (2024). AIAAIC – Study: ChatGPT consumes a bottle of water per email. Retrieved from Aiaaic.org website: https://www.aiaaic.org/aiaaic-repository/ai-algorithmic-and-automation-incidents/study-chatgpt-consumes-a-bottle-of-water-per-email