Altman: AI water use claims are 'totally fake'

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently asserted that concerns regarding artificial intelligence's impact on water supplies are greatly exaggerated. He controversially suggested that training a large language model requires significantly fewer resources than the lifetime development of a human being.

Altman stated that the energy needed for a single AI inference query, once a model is trained, is likely comparable to or less than a human's. He further claimed that accusations of each ChatGPT query wasting gallons of water are "completely untrue" and "totally insane."

Despite these assertions, Altman conceded that OpenAI's previous reliance on evaporative cooling led to substantial water use. He also acknowledged that the total energy consumption of AI is a fair subject for examination due to widespread usage. However, he expressed confidence that the energy sources for AI are rapidly shifting towards renewables like nuclear, wind, and solar.

The CEO's remarks, made during a Q&A session, did not sit well with everyone. Sridhar Vembu, co-founder of Zoho Corporation, tweeted his disagreement, stating he does not want a world that equates technology with human beings. The debate occurs against a backdrop of increased global investment in AI data centers, contributing to rising energy prices and environmental worries.