Water required by data centers is increasing considerably with the advent of generative AI. Large language models trained on vast amounts of data need substantial cooling.

While some may argue that water can be reused, it is often pulled from water supplies in times of significant heatwaves, when residents are in need of it as well, and supplies diminsh faster.

In July of 2022, Microsoft pumped in about 11.5 million gallons of water to its cluster of Iowa data centers, according to the West Des Moines Water Works. That’s around 6% of all the water used in the district, which also supplies drinking water to residents.

Meanwhile, the energy required is of course not recycled – and it’s to be expected that energy use is growing as well. The companies behind the tools are just not disclosing how much their AI investments are costing us when it comes to their carbon footprint.

”In its latest environmental report, Microsoft disclosed that its global water consumption spiked 34% from 2021 to 2022 (to nearly 1.7 billion gallons, or more than 2,500 Olympic-sized swimming pools), a sharp increase compared to previous years that outside researchers tie to its AI research.”

https://fortune.com/2023/09/09/ai-chatgpt-usage-fuels-spike-in-microsoft-water-consumption/