OpenAI CEO calls AI water concerns ‘fake’

Artificial intelligence doesn’t use as much water as some reports claim, says OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Speaking at an AI summit, he called online claims that ChatGPT or other AI systems use gallons of water per question “completely untrue” and “totally insane".

Altman explained that while data centres do need water to cool computer systems, newer technology is reducing this need, and some data centres no longer rely on water at all. “The worries about water are fake,” he said but added that energy use is still a real concern.

“AI uses a lot of power overall, so we need to switch to renewable sources like wind, solar, or nuclear,” he noted.

He also compared AI to humans, saying that training a person to think takes years and a lot of energy, food, schooling, and other resources. “The fair comparison is how much energy it takes for AI to answer a question once it’s trained, and AI is already competitive with humans on that,” he said.

Not everyone shares the same opinion about this matter. Sridhar Vembu, who co-founded Zoho Corporation, believes that comparing artificial intelligence to human intelligence creates dangerous risks because different types of technology should not be evaluated like human beings.

The governments and companies of the world spend billions on building new data centres to meet the rising computing demands of artificial intelligence technology. Some local communities have resisted such projects, concerned about higher electricity costs and pressure on local energy supplies.