‘Thirsty’ ChatGPT uses four times more water than previously thought
‘Thirsty’ ChatGPT uses four times more water than previously thought
The massive computer clusters powering artificial intelligence consume vast quantities to answer the world’s queries, but how is Big Tech redressing the balance?
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/32023985
Writing a 100-word email using ChatGPT (GPT-4, latest model) consumes 1 x 500ml bottle of water It uses 140Wh of energy, enough for 7 full charges of an iPhone Pro Max
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Good thing we aren't running out of fresh water or anyth-
https://www.earth.com/news/satellites-reveal-a-sudden-drop-in-global-freshwater-levels/
Fuck.
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Yeah it's not good.
I live in an area with normally lush rivers and lakes, rich forest full of life. We're going on like day 90 of drought conditions. I can't even light a candle without starting a fucking forest fire.
/Thirstily looks at Canada.
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"Running out of fresh water" narration is a complete lie. I don't know why, but these articles are implying its like oil that will run out some day. No, fresh water is a manufacturable good. Worst case scenario it gets more expensive as more of it needs to be produced out of salt water ect.
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You do understand that the more expensive it gets, the less people can afford it, right? That's basically the same as running out. Sure, you can desalinate the whole ocean if you want to spend the resources on it. No one is suggesting that there will one day literally be no more fresh water within the foreseeable future. That doesn't really matter to the farmers in developing countries that can't afford to irrigate their fields and thus can't feed the people there.
And then there's the fact that desalination is a huge environmental disaster.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/desalination-pours-more-toxic-brine-ocean-previously-thought
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A big consumer in the fresh water market is agriculture. Whenever articles talk about demand exceeding freshwater supplies, it's referring to agriculture demand, which usually draw from dams, rivers, or lakes.
City water treatmant plants also usually start with pulling water from a river or water reservoir.
The costs with these consumers suddenly spinning up a saltwater or other advanced purification plant, that could perhaps function without a large freshwater reservoir, is prohibitively expensive. Especially for developing countries, where agriculture could be a large part of the economy
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Overestimate the gains and potential, underestimate the cost.
Typical corporate fads.
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So whenever you see people using LLM-generated content, remember to ask them how much clean drinking water it cost.
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Thats actually a kind of crazy thought. Everyone has heard of the depressed AI that just shuts itself down upon gaining sentience, but what about the climate AI that shuts itself down because its the best eay to save the climate
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It's not in a closed loop?
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There tend to be 2 loops, an closed one to the server and an evaporative cooler as a cold side.
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I should stop using ai ngl.
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I was having a conversation with a friend about this. At some point, the bill is going to come . It's free, or cheap, to use everyone's generators, but the bill will come soon. Just like Spotify, Netflix, Prime, etc. The price they're charging now is just to ensure you get hooked and rely on it before they stay hiking to stay profitable.
That's not to say anything about LLM collapse, or the economic cost of training new models for 10% improvements.
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Its absurd
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"uses four times as much water as disclosed"