Rising AI use increases water consumption for server cooling - study

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Companies like Google and Microsoft use millions of litres of water to cool servers that process artificial intelligence tasks.

Here's What We Know

According to Microsoft's environmental report, Microsoft's water consumption grew 34% between 2021 and 2022 to nearly 6.4 billion litres.

Google also reported a 20% increase in water consumption in its data centres over the period. The figures vary by region in the US.

University of California expert Shaolei Ren believes that much of the increase is due to the use of AI.

According to his data, ChatGPT uses 0.5 litres of water for every 5-50 requests. If everyone in the US makes one request a day, consumption for cooling data centres will grow by 60 billion litres in a year.

Many technology companies are trying to optimise their water usage. Last year, Google said it was doing so responsibly with an eye on the burden on the environment.

Source: Assosiated Press