Sam Altman: ChatGPT water use is exaggerated, California requires evidence

The CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman, stated that concerns about water use in ChatGPT were exaggerated. He claims that 38,000 inquiries were made with water use equal to the production of an almond. The Governor of California, Gavin Neusum, is considering two bills requiring data centre operators to disclose more information on water consumption. Altman, in a podcast with Alex Heath, pointed out that the water use in the modern large data centre was comparable to that in the office building, and criticized it mainly on the basis of outdated evaporation cooling assumptions. According to researchers, water consumption is more difficult due to the scarcity of operational data published by the OpenAI and data centre industries. According to a study, the United States data centre consumed approximately 17 billion gallons of water directly in 2023, up from 5.6 billion gallons in 2014. California legislators are seeking more transparency, and two bills, AB 2619 and AB 2469, have been legislated and registered。