The Thirsty ChatGPT!
Dear Friends and Students,
During a recent visit to a friend's home, I witnessed an interesting scenario. A 10-year-old boy was playfully engaging with ChatGPT, and his parents were thrilled to see him embrace this AI tool. While technology adoption is a positive development, I believe it's important to educate the entire family about a crucial aspect of these interactions.
In technical terms, our interactions with ChatGPT through the textbox are referred to as "prompts." In this instance, the boy asked a simple question, "How are you?" and received a response from ChatGPT: "I'm just a computer program, so I don't have feelings, but I'm here to help you with any questions or tasks you have. How can I assist you today?" This exchange was fun and entertaining, but it's essential to understand that for every 20-50 such conversations or prompts, ChatGPT consumes approximately half a liter of water.
What may surprise you is that ChatGPT's water consumption is related to the cooling of the data center machines that power the AI. In fact, Microsoft's global water usage increased by 34 percent from 2021 to 2022, reaching nearly 1.7 billion gallons (source: www.businesstoday.in).
It's not just ChatGPT; every AI-powered data center has a significant water footprint. Consider the numbers: Google Bard has about 1,00,000 daily active users, while ChatGPT boasts over 10 crore active users. Microsoft Bing Chat has an estimated 50,000 daily active users, Meta Llama 2 has around 25,000, Claude has roughly 10,000, and GitHub CoPilot has about 5,000 daily active users.
Starting with the estimated daily active users of ChatGPT and Bard, if each user generates an average of 10 prompts per day, the total number of prompts from these two engines alone would reach 130 million per day. Adding in prompts from other competitors like Microsoft Bing Chat, Meta Llama 2, Claude, and GitHub CoPilot, the daily total exceeds 135 million. To put this into perspective, 130 million prompts require a staggering 65,00,000 liters of water. Assuming an average person consumes 3 liters of water per day, this amount could sustain approximately 21,66,667 people daily.
I've been asked whether AI models like ChatGPT are sustainable. The answer is Yes/No, depending on the context. AI can be sustainable when used for vital tasks. For instance, when AI analyses medical images such as X-rays, CT scans, and MRIs to help doctors detect diseases like cancer, fractures, and neurological disorders, it greatly enhances healthcare accuracy and efficiency.
However, we might consider delaying AI-powered meme generators, AI toys, and entertainment robots to reduce the water footprint. We can also postpone AI chatbots for casual conversations and AI virtual assistants for entertainment and convenience.
In conclusion, AI developers and users should be transparent about their products' water footprint. Users must be aware of the environmental impact of their choices. To address the water footprint of AI, developers, users, policymakers, and stakeholders must collaborate and take responsible actions.
Warm regards,
Ravi Saripalle
Note: Opinions expressed by authors are their own.
Pic credits: Pixabay
Dr. Ravi Saripalle
View Details
Like
1 Comments
Repost
You may also like
Dr. Ravi Saripalle
Published 7d+
Failure Conference!! Sounds Interesting!! You Heard Right!! Read This!
Failure Conference!! Sounds Interesting!! You Heard Right!! Read This!Dear Friends,Occasionally, we hear about Success Meets! Whether it’s an organization or an individual, success is generally
EdGe: Your Academic Co-pilot
Published 7d+
Naval Architecture vs Marine Engineering
A Complete Guide for Indian StudentsIf you're interested in working with ships, oceans, and high-tech engineering systems, you might have come across two interesting career options: Naval Architecture
EdGe: Your Academic Co-pilot
Published 7d+
Know Your College: ABR College of Engineering & Technology, Kanigiri
📢 Discover ABR College of Engineering & Technology, KanigiriEstablished in 2008, ABR College of Engineering & Technology is a reputed private institution located at China Irlapadu, Kanigiri,
Dr. Ravi Saripalle
Published 7d+
Living in scarcity vs. Living in Abundance!!
Plenty but Purposeless results are Pathetic! Living in scarcity vs. Living in Abundance!! Read this perspectiveDear Friends and StudentA coupleuple of days back I received a LinkedIn message with the
EdGe: Your Academic Co-pilot
Published 7d+
All about IITs in India
The Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) are the most prestigious and top engineering institutes in India. For most of the students in India, the dream is to get into IITs. Most of
Dr. Ravi Saripalle
Published 7d+
Biodiversity Crisis!
Community Led Grassroots Fightback against Biodiversity Crisis! What is our Vow to Rewild?! Read this PerspectiveDear Friends and StudentsRecently somebody commented on my blog that most of the
Dr. Ravi Saripalle
Published 7d+
Why Bad News Hits Harder: The Science of Negativity Bias
Dear Friends,Once, while walking through a narrow street lined with closely packed houses, I came across a typical scene: a heated argument between a husband and wife. Their voices echoed across
Sandip University
Published 7d+
Civil Engineering Course and its Prospects
What is Civil Engineering?A proper description of Civil Engineering would be: ‘The art of redirecting and using the resources of nature to create convenient structures to sustain the life of man,
Dr. Ravi Saripalle
Published 7d+
Should I join ECE or not?
Should I join ECE or not? Do I have a Future? This Message is a Response to these questions! Read this perspective!Dear Students and FriendsA couple of days back, one of my colleagues asked what
EdGe: Your Academic Co-pilot
Published 7d+
All About CUET
🎓 CUET (UG) 2025: Your Ultimate Guide to Undergraduate Admissions in IndiaThe Common University Entrance Test (CUET) UG 2025 is a pivotal examination for students aspiring to pursue undergraduate
Dr. Ravi Saripalle
Published 7d+
The Thirsty ChatGPT!
The Thirsty ChatGPT! Cultivate Responsible Prompt Engineering! Be Accountable for your Prompts and behind Water footprint!Dear Friends and Students,During a recent visit to a friend's home,
Sri Chaitanya Ayyagari
Published 7d+
Green Hydrogen As A Future Energy Carrier
As World is moving towards a renewable economy, Hydrogen gas, as a key energy carrier, is going to play a key role in the target of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050(https://www.ipcc.ch). Why
Related Blogs
TAMADA RAHUL
Published 7d+
CHATGPT, A melancholy with a thing of beauty.
As the world is growing in all fields including population, made things much easier due to different ideologies arising from different parts of the world. As to run everything smoothly, different technologies
ELCSLAB @ Lendi
Published 7d+
The Power of ChatGPT: Revolutionizing Conversational AI
In recent years, the field of artificial intelligence has witnessed tremendous advancements, particularly in the domain of natural language processing. One of the most remarkable innovations to emerge
Dr. Ravi Saripalle
Published 7d+
Preparing Coders for Tomorrow
"Preparing Coders for Tomorrow: The Evolution of Code Comprehension in Generative AI”! Computer Science Faculty and IT Recruiters' Dilemma!Dear Friends and Students,This article
Dr. Ravi Saripalle
Published 7d+
AI Impact on Jobs
Unleashing the Power of AI: Job Market Dynamics (AI shrinks large set of jobs to 4), Skill Reshaping, and New OpportunitiesDear Friends and StudentsRecently I had an opportunity to present my views
Dr. Ravi Saripalle
Published 7d+
Prompt Engineering
The Hottest Software Job and Hottest Programming Language in the Market! The first-ever new Job created by AI!Dear Friends and StudentsRecently I saw a Job post and Companies are willing to pay
Dr. Ravi Saripalle
Published 7d+
The Impact of Your Internship
Maximizing the Impact of Your Internship Applications: The Crucial Role of Expression and Presentation in Cover Letters and Statements of PurposeDear Friends and StudentsToday I received the