Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, believes that worries about how much water AI data centers use are exaggerated. He explained that modern data centers consume about the same amount of water as a large office building. In a recent podcast, he mentioned that while some people think data centers waste a lot of water, a report from Virginia showed that most data centers actually use equal or less water compared to typical office buildings. Despite these reassurances, many Americans are still concerned about the environmental impact of data centers, with a Gallup survey indicating that 71% of people oppose having a data center built near them, and 18% specifically worry about water use. Altman also made a comparison to illustrate his point: he said that the water used for a single query on ChatGPT is much less than what it takes to grow an almond in California. It takes about 3.56 liters of water to grow one almond, while a ChatGPT query only uses about 0.32 milliliters of water. While Altman thinks the fears about AI water use are unfounded, he acknowledges that the industry needs to work on changing people's perceptions and showing them the benefits of AI technology.
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